


The One Where Tony is Rhodey's Weakness

by JinxQuickfoot



Series: Weaknesses [10]
Category: Iron Man (Comics), Iron Man (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies), The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: Attempted Rape/Non-Con, Hurt Tony Stark, James "Rhodey" Rhodes & Tony Stark Friendship, James "Rhodey" Rhodes & Tony Stark at MIT, James "Rhodey" Rhodes is a Good Bro, Pre-Iron Man 1, Protective James "Rhodey" Rhodes, Teenage Tony Stark, Tony Stark Needs a Hug, Whump, non-con elements
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-30
Updated: 2020-04-20
Packaged: 2021-02-28 19:27:27
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Rape/Non-Con, Underage
Chapters: 8
Words: 20,049
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23392477
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/JinxQuickfoot/pseuds/JinxQuickfoot
Summary: “Fine,” Rhodey said through gritted teeth. He reached into his backpack and pulled out his own immaculate, typed notes. He slammed them on the table in front of Tiberius. “There. Now seriously, Stone - let him go.”----------------------------------------------------------------------------Rhodey didn't expect his roomate at MIT to be Howard Stark's son. He also didn't expect him to be fifteen. And he definitely didn't expect just how much he was going to end up caring about Tony Stark.
Relationships: James "Rhodey" Rhodes & Tony Stark, Tony Stark & Tiberius Stone
Series: Weaknesses [10]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1672462
Comments: 76
Kudos: 322





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Day 10 of the "Weaknesses" writing challenge.
> 
> Content warning: There is some non-con stuff in Chapters 3 and 6, and it happens to a fifteen-year-old. If that's not something you need in your life right now, skip on over that chapter or this entire work. I have some more Tony-Rhodey feels in Part 1 you might prefer instead to satiate your fanfiction requirements.
> 
> [Come say hi on Tumblr - I take requests!](https://www.tumblr.com/blog/jinxquickfoot)

James Rhodes was unsure about his new roommate. 

Firstly, he looked as if he should be in middle school, not in a freshman dorm at MIT. Secondly, his bed was already a mess of spare gears and wires, with three (mostly) empty coffee mugs scattered across the sheets for good measure. Thirdly, Rhodey had put two and two together with the expensive watch and the designer jeans and was utterly _not_ ready to meet Howard Stark’s son while wearing only a bath towel.

He settled for, “Hey.”

The boy didn’t look up, focussed on his project. _Great. I’m going to spend the year bunking with Daddy’s precious rich boy._ Rhodey sighed as he made his way over to his perfectly made bed to look for some clothes.

“You James?”

The boy’s clipped voice took him off guard. “Um, yeah. But no one calls me that except my grandma. It’s Rhodey.”

“I assume you know who I am. Actually, scratch that. You definitely know who I am. Everyone does.”

“Sure, man.” Rhodey located some jeans and headed back to the bathroom to get dressed. “You go by Anthony?”

“Tony,” the boy corrected him.

“And your babysitter’s name?”

Tony sent him a scathing look. “I got in same as you.”

“You’re what, twelve?”

“Fifteen,” Tony shot back at him.

“Well, I’m not going to be your babysitter, kid.”

“I don’t need a babysitter!”

“Or your maid.” Rhodey nudged the discarded t-shirts that were encroaching on his side of the room. “You want to be treated like an adult? Fine. You can start by acting like one and pick up after yourself.”

He almost grinned at Tony’s stunned look as he shut the door to the bathroom behind him. “Howard Stark’s son,” he grumbled to himself as he pulled on the clothes. “It’s going to be an interesting year.”

***

James Rhodes became even more unsure about his new roommate when he returned home from a party at 4 am and found Tony hunched over his textbooks with a chewed pencil in one hand and a flashlight in the other, the usual number of coffee mugs scattered around him doubled.

All Rhodey wanted to do was collapse into his bed and sleep, but he went over to sit on the end of Tony’s bed instead. “Term paper?” 

“Due tomorrow.”

“Haven’t you had like a month to finish that?”

Tony shot him a withering glance. “I’ve been busy.”

“Doing what? Watching cartoons?”

Tony snatched his textbook up and lay back on his pillows to write, as far away from Rhodey as possible. Rhodey noted the tension in the teenager’s face and softened. “Sorry, man. I’ve had a few beers. More than a few. Can I help?”

Tony glared at him with mistrust. “Why would you do that?”

“Because MIT is stressful enough for the rest of us, let alone-”

“I’m no different to anyone else here.”

“Yes, you are, Tony. You’re fifteen. You should have friends your own age. Hobbies. And if you’re struggling with this course-”

“I’m not struggling!” Tony snapped at him. “I’m top in my class in everything. I’m ahead of _you_.”

Rhodey sighed, the tiredness and the drunkenness winning out. “Whatever, man. I’m going to bed.”

As he drifted off to sleep, trying to ignore the flickering flashlight, he could hear the sound of furious scribblings and, just before unconsciousness took him, what might have been a sob.

***

The week before the next major term paper was due, Rhodey went looking for Tony.

He found him in one of MIT’s many workshops, bent over a complex contraction, oblivious to the world around him. Rhodey paused, feeling like he was interrupting something almost intimate. It was the first time he had seen Tony calm and focused - happy, even.

He almost went away, deciding to come back later - to not interrupt and break Tony’s flow. Before he could, however, a tall, blonde, handsome boy interrupted him first, casually hopping up on Tony’s work station, forcing Tony to stop was he was doing.

“Stark.”

Tony rolled his eyes. “Stone. Can I help you?”

“Is that your Brighter Futures project?”

“No. It’s a coffeemaker. Go away, Tiberius.”

“I’m only being polite.” Tiberius reached down and gripped Tony’s shoulder a little too hard and then Rhodey was moving, leaning on the other side of Tony’s workbench. Tiberius shot Rhodey an annoyed look, not removing his hand from Tony’s shoulder.

“What do you want, Rhodes?”

“Saying hi. I’m only being polite,” Rhodey mocked Tiberius’s words, making the blonde boy glower at him. _Get your hand off him,_ Rhodey thought. Tiberius’s grip on Tony’s shoulder made him want to break the asshole’s wrist. “How’s your Brighter Future project coming along, Stone?”

“I have ideas,” Stone retorted. “Ideas that I thought Stark might be interested in. The Brighter Future program does accept proposals from teams as well, you know.” His next words were directed at Tony. “We’d stand a better chance of getting into the program if we worked together.”

“No,” Tony corrected him. “The only way you’d stand _any_ chance of getting into that program is by tagging along with me and taking credit for my work. Which is what you’re obviously trying to do.”

The knuckles clutching Tony’s shoulder were white now, and Rhodey saw that the younger boy was trying not to wince. “You heard him, Stone.” Rhodey’s voice was low, threatening. “Go away.”

Tiberius took in Rhodey’s physique and the expression on his face…and let go of Tony. “Fine,” he snapped. “If you don’t want to know my idea is, which is guaranteed to get in by the way, that’s your loss.” And he stormed out of the workshop.

Rhodey put his hand on Tony’s shoulder; a gentle, comforting grip as opposed to Tiberius’ threatening one. “Are you ok?”

Tony batted him away. “Fine.”

“I was looking for you.”

“I’m not partnering with anyone for the Brighter Future applications, Rhodes, so don’t even bother.”

For a second, Rhodey considered just giving up and walking away. He didn’t need this. Then he recalled the quiet sobbing at four in the morning and he stuck his ground. “We’re going to the library,” he told Tony. “We’re going to start on our term papers for Underkoffler’s class.”

Tony looked at him in disbelief. “Remember when we first met and you said you weren’t going to be my babysitter?”

Rhodey sighed. “Tony…”

“Because you’re sure as hell acting like one. Did you seriously just tell me _to go do my homework?_ ”

“You can’t leave every term paper until the night before.”

Tony shrugged, not meeting Rhodey’s eyes. “My grades say otherwise.”

“It’s not just about the grades. If you constantly pull that kind of all-nighter and put yourself through that kind of stress, you’ll burn out. You know what burnout is right?”

“Of course,” Tony snapped. “But I’m fine.”

“Are you?”

“Yes, Rhodes!”

“Then why are you lying about your grades?”

Tony grew still, then turned furious eyes on Rhodey. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“So you don’t know about the huge “C-” scrawled on top your last term paper you left until a few hours before the due date?”

Tony started to back up his stuff, looking for an escape. “Going through my stuff now, Rhodes?” 

“It was on my side of the room, like most of your crap is.”

Tony huffed, and Rhodey expected more sulking, but instead the teenager asked in a small voice, “Are you going to tell anyone?”

Rhodey blinked, surprised. “Why would I tell anyone?”

Tony shrugged, eyes on his work, so Rhodey continued. “There’s no shame in finding this stuff hard, Tony. It’s MIT. It’s not meant to be easy.”

“It’s not hard!” Tony snapped at him, running his hand through his hair. “I can build pretty much anything twice as fast as anyone else here. Blindfolded. It’s just…” Tony cast his eyes around the workshop to make sure no one else was listening in. “I don’t see why I have to write it down. If I can do it, that should be enough.”

“Well, it’s not,” Rhodey replied bluntly. “Not here, anyway.”

“That’s stupid.”

“It’s not just about you being able to do the work, Tony. It’s about showing others how to do it too. Letting others see your research and your findings and build their own work upon them.”

“So I should write down my work for other people to steal.”

“Not steal. Use to fuel their own research. It’s not like Tesla and Edison kept all their notes to themselves. They shared it with the world so we could continue what they started.”

“Edison stole from Tesla.”

“You’re missing the point.” Rhodey got to his feet. “You, me, library - _now._ I’ll buy you a coffee.”

“I have more money than you’ll see in your lifetime, Rhodes.”

“Fine. You can buy the coffee. Now _move_.”


	2. Chapter 2

Five minutes into their study session, Rhodey was regretting whatever surge of kindness had led him there. Tony couldn’t sit still for longer than five minutes, constantly fidgeting, tapping his pen against his textbooks, running his fingers through his hair, and humming off-key.

“ _Dude_.” Rhodey slammed down his own pen, glaring at Tony.

Tony looked back at him, nonplussed. “This was your idea, Rhodes.”

“I’m aware. Can you just, I don’t know, sit still for one second?”

“Not really, no.”

Rhodey brought his hand down on Tony’s tapping pen. “Ok. Let’s see what you have at least.”

Rhodey tugged the draft of Tony’s paper towards him, ignoring the younger boy’s protests.He blinked at it. “Is this how you turned in the last term paper?”  


“The maths checks out.”

“Tones, I can’t follow a word of this.”

“Well, it makes perfect sense to me.”

Rhodey fixed him with a look. “It’s not that I can’t understand the _math_ , Stark. It’s that I can’t understand _you_. Do you even know how to format an essay like this?”

“That stuff doesn’t matter.”

“If you want to pass your course? Yeah, it does. Here, let me show you.”

Rhodey shuffled his chair closer to Tony only for Tony to spring to his feet, stuffing papers and books into his bag. Rhodey snorted at him. “What, are you going to throw a tantrum now?”

“I’m not buying it, Rhodes.”

“You lost me.”

“I’m not doing it.” Tony stared down his roommate.

“Jesus, Stark, formatting isn’t that hard-”

“Not the essay. I’m not doing whatever favour you think you’re getting out of me.”

Rhodey blinked at him, lost for words. “ _What?_ ”

“I’m not giving you my research, I’m not helping you with your Brighter Futures application, and I’m certainly not going to introduce you to my dad or give you a reference for Stark Industries. So you can save us both a bunch of time and stay out of my life.”

Then he was storming away, leaving Rhodey stunned and alone at the library table.

***

They hardly talked until the next 4 am breakdown before a term paper was due. Rhodey was trying to force sleep to come, blocking out the frantic scribbling and the wobbling flashlight on the other side of the shared dorm room.

_I tried_ , he told himself, pulling his pillow over his head to block out the light. _This is the kid’s own fault._

Finally, the scribbling stopped and the flashlight went out. Rhodey sighed with relief as the room finally went dark and quiet enough for him to get some sleep before his 9 am lecture. He was almost out when he heard the muffled crying from the other side of the room.

_Don’t get involved, Rhodes. Just go to sleep. You have class in the morning._

Sighing, Rhodey pushed the sheets off his bed and turned the dormitory light on, causing a surprised shout of protest from Tony as he pulled a sheet up over his head.

“I know you’re crying, Stark.”

When Tony didn’t emerge from the sheet, Rhodey sat down on the bed and pulled it off by force. Tony threw an arm over his red-rimmed eyes instead. “Just go to sleep, Rhodes.”

“You’re not making that very easy.”

Rhodey picked up the scattered sheets of notes and scribblings that were strewn over Tony’s bed. “Is this your paper? The one due in five hours?” Rhodey tried to make sense of the copious amount of paper. “Stark, this isn’t even typed.”

When Tony still didn’t respond, Rhodey pressed him, “Tony, this is worth a third of your grade. If you don’t hand this in you’ll fail the semester.”

“I know that! I’m not an idiot!” Tony sat bolt upright, angrily wiping his eyes, not making eye contact with Rhodey. Rhodey expected the outburst to continue or for Tony to stark sulking again, but instead, the teenager buried his head in his hands. Through his fingers came a small voice; “My dad’s going to kill me.”

Rhodey bit back everything he wanted to say - namely, _I told you so_ \- and instead gathered up all Tony’s notes into a neat pile and started pulling on a pair of boots. “Get up,” he told Tony as he put on his coat.

“What are you doing?”

“Get up. Put on some shoes. Follow me.”

“Rhodes-” But Rhodey was already moving out the door and, as he had all of Tony’s notes, Tony didn’t have much of a choice but to follow. “Where are we going?”

“Computer lab. You’re lucky we have 24-hour access.”

Rhodey marched across campus with Tony in tow, guiding the teenager into the closest computer lab. He sent out a silent prayer of thanks that it was empty, and steered Tony to the furthest computer in the corner. Rhodey sat down in front of it, guiding Tony into a chair next to him and pushing his notes into his hands as Rhodey started up the computer. “Title,” he said when he was ready to start typing.

Tony had finally cottoned on to what Rhodey was doing and was staring at the older boy in disbelief. “Rhodes…you don’t have to do this.”

“You’re right, I don’t. Now - title.”

Tony gave it to him. “Ok. Explain the paper you were working on to me.”

“I’m not a cheater.”

“This isn’t cheating. It’s going to be all your own work. I’m just going to help you phrase it in a way that we common mortals can understand. Ok?”

Tony shuffled the mountain of papers in his lap. “If you want me to introduce you to my dad, this isn’t going to work. He doesn’t listen to me. I can’t get him on the phone most of the time.”

“I don’t want to talk to Howard Stark.”

“Then what you do want?”

“You know what I want?” Rhodey turned the chair around so he was facing Tony head-on. “I want to _sleep_. At a reasonable hour. And I want you to clean up your mugs after you use them and not two weeks later when they’re contracting mould. And I want you to keep your stuff on your side of the room. So if you can do that, I’ll help you get this term paper done in time? Deal?”

Tony was staring at him in disbelief. “Is that all?”

“You might not care about your health or sanity but I care about mine.”

“Ok.” It was the first time Rhodey had seen Tony stumped. “Deal.”

“Great.” Rhodey yawned widely. “Ok. Start at the beginning.”

***

They handed the completed term paper in at 8:59 am, after which Rhodey dashed to a lecture he struggled to stay awake through and remembered nothing of afterwards.

A few days later, Tony shyly showed him the “A-” scribbled over the term paper.

“Nice.” Rhodey surveyed their shared room which Tony was, to his credit, at least keeping free of mouldy mugs. “Start the week before like I told you on the next one and that minus will turn to a plus in no time.”

And it did. They formed the same arrangement as before, with Tony describing his project to Rhodey, and Rhodey typing it out for him. Rhodey had noticed Stone had started hanging around the same computer lab he and Tony did, sending the pair envious looks as he slaved over his own assignments. Rhodey couldn't help that Tony stiffened every time Tiberius was in the same room as them, but he never outright mentioned his discomfort.

One night, Tony had come home late, slamming the door behind him so hard that he startled Rhodey awake. “Sorry,” Tony whispered, pulling off his shoes and burying himself in his blanket.

“Stark, it’s 2 am.”

“I know. I took the long way back to the dorms.”

Before Rhodey could ask why, there was a gentle knock at the door. “Tony?”

Tony froze under his blankets as the door handle started to turn.

Rhodey sprang out of bed, crossing the room in two bounds and ripping the door open. He just caught a dash of movement and a glint of blonde hair down the end of the hall before the figure vanished.

“Shit,” Rhodey whispered, shutting the door before pulling a chair under the handle and jamming it shut. “Tony, you ok?”

He didn’t get a response from the pile of blankets. “I locked the door,” Rhodey told him. “And I think I scared him off.”

The blankets didn’t move. Sighing, Rhodey climbed back into his own bed. “Tony?” he said into the darkness. “Don’t walk back to the dorms alone at night anymore, ok? Wait for me to come with you.”

Tony was silent for so long Rhodey thought the teenager had gone to sleep. Then - “That’s too much.”

“Too much what?”

“To ask.”

“You didn’t ask. I’m offering. Scratch that - I’m _telling_ you. No more late-night walkabouts alone. Ok?”

Tony grumbled something that Rhodey was sure was “I don’t need a babysitter.”

_No,_ Rhodey thought. _You need a friend, kid._

***

For the next assignment, Rhodey insisted that Tony type it up himself, although he sat by the teenager’s side while he did so, pointing out when sentences got too convoluted or when Tony skipped steps because “ _But isn’t that part obvious?”_

Tony had stuck to his side of the bargain, dutifully waiting for Rhodey to walk him home when they were both done with study for the day. Rhodey also suspected that meant that Tony was finally starting to get more sleep, as his roommate started to look less like a gaunt ghost and started to gain some colour in his cheeks.

It was coming up to the end of the semester, and there was only one topic of conversation heard anywhere on campus: who was going to be selected for the Brighter Futures Program?

It was one of the most prestigious the country had to offer, with just twenty slots in the summer program. Those selected were guaranteed a job almost anywhere they liked after graduation. Rhodey became curious in Tony’s clear determination to be one of that year’s twenty, despite the age limit being twenty-four, with most applicants selected being twenty or older.

Since Rhodey had started walking Tony home at night, the roommates had gotten into the habit of walking over to classes during the day as well. Rhodey used one of these morning strolls to press the point with his roommate. Tony shrugged and replied, “Everyone applies for the Brighter Futures Program.”

“Yeah, because it’s a stepping stone to getting hired after graduation. But you pretty much have a guaranteed future at Stark Industries, so I don’t get why you’re putting so much work into applying.”

“I notice you’re _not_ putting work into applying.”

Rhodey sighed. “I was trying to build a portable water filter.” The requirements for the Brighter Futures application was to “Design a device that would have a global impact on a brighter future for humanity.” 

Rhodey continued. “It started off as an idea for soldiers fighting overseas, a source of safe water they could take with them into the jungle or third world countries. It was meant to be powered by solar but…” He broke off.

“It didn’t work?” Tony asked, surprised. “It seems like it would be simple enough to design.”

“It was,” Rhodey replied. “That’s not the problem. I still finished it, but once I did I realised it would be too expensive for the military to produce on a mass scale. Well,” he amended. “It wouldn’t be, but I doubt they would divert that much funding from the weapons department to put towards something that would probably be considered unnecessary.”

“So you gave up?”

“I don’t have time to design anything else. But stop deflecting - you didn’t answer my question.”

Tony was quiet for a moment, and Rhodey thought he wasn’t going to answer. Then - “I don’t want Stark Industries to be my only option. And…I don’t really want to spend the summer at home either.”

Rhodey decided to drop the subject after that. It didn’t come up again until he woke up one morning to find Tony waiting at the foot of his bed with two mugs of coffee in hand, startling him.

“Jesus, Tones. That’s real creepy, you know that?”

“I was waiting for you to wake up. I was being considerate.” He actually sounded proud of himself. Rhodey groaned as he accepted the coffee Tony was pushing into his hand.

“Fine. I’m awake. Kind of. What do you want?”

“You should apply for the Brighter Futures Program.”

“I already told you-”

“Your invention wasn’t viable. I know. What if it was?”

Now Rhodey was awake. He followed Tony to one of MIT’s many workshops, where Tony proudly showed him his own Brighter Futures invention. After rattling off a lot of technical jargon, he said simply, “It’s a device that powers itself.”

Rhodey examined Tony’s notes, not bothering to hide the amazement on his face. “Tony…did you solve _perpetual motion_?”

“Not quite.” Tony actually sounded annoyed about it. “Perpetual motion would require the device to power itself forever. That’s not possible…yet.” He gave Rhodey a cocky grin. “But this is pretty damn close. It works until the parts wear out. And if we apply this technology to your water filter…”

“It could last for…”

“Years. Maybe decades, with the right materials. And it could go further than the military. You could use it in third world countries without access to clean water, and that’s just applying this technology to your invention - the applications are pretty much unlimited.”

“Tony, this is amazing.”

“I know.” Tony brushed off the compliment, not meeting Rhodey’s eyes. “And the Brighter Futures Program accepts applications from teams. So, you know, we could combine our research and apply together.”

Rhodey stepped forward and pulled the younger boy in for a hug. “Ok ok,” Tony complained, pushing him away. “But just so you know, part of the reason I’m asking is that I’m still not great at the paperwork side of things. And the first stage of the application is an interview and apparently some people find me…” He cast about for the right word. “Vexing.”

“You don’t say.” Rhodey exhaled. As well as preparing for the Brighter Futures interview, he still had finals to study for and another couple of papers due before the end of term. “We’re going to need so much more coffee.”

As Rhodey and Tony got to work, Rhodey felt the unpleasant sensation of being watched. Looking over his shoulder, he caught sight of Tiberius Stone slinking out of the workshop, apparently having heard every word.


	3. Chapter 3

It a few days before their interview for the Brighter Futures Program, and Rhodey was in the library hastily cramming for his exam the next morning.

He and Tony had been lucky, ending up with one of the later interview slots, allowing them more time to prepare. Rhodey had overheard Tiberius griping about being he and his partner, a fellow student called Edward Dodds, ending up with one of the earlier slots. Rhodey would have almost preferred to go earlier to give himself more headspace for the physics final he was trying to wrap his head around for tomorrow.

At least everything on his and Tony’s invention was done. The water filter was locked safely away in their regular workshop, the neatly typed up notes for their interview tucked safely into Rhodey’s bag. 

Rhodey yawned and checked the time. It was growing close to midnight, his agreed upon time to meet Tony at the workshop so they could walk back to their dorm together. 

The lights to the workshop were on as Rhodey approached, but when Rhodey tried the door, he found it locked. He frowned - all students had 24-hour access to most of the common areas on campus. When he tried again, he found that it wasn’t that the handle was locked so much as jammed closed, with something on the other side blocking his access.

He pressed his ear to the door, listening. Hearing muffled voices inside, he rapped on the door. “Tony? You in there?”

The voices fell very quiet. Rhodey knocked again - harder this time. “Tony! We have our physics final tomorrow!”

There was a scraping sound, and then the door opened and Rhodey found himself face to face not with Tony Stark, but with Tiberius Stone.

“Stone,” Rhodey greeted him warily. “Stark in there with you?”

Tiberius seemed to be weighing something up in his response, but he didn’t get as far as making a decision. Rhodey had looked down at Tiberius’s hands, and had seen the bloody knuckles. Tiberius saw where Rhodey was looking, and then tried to slam the door in his face.

Rhodey shouldered his way through, picking Tiberius up and slamming him against the door, shutting the two of them in the workshop. Tiberius squirmed in Rhodey’s grip. “What do you think you’re playing at, Rhodes?”

“What did you do to him?”

Tiberius looked pointedly over Rhodey’s shoulder, a wicked grin on his face as he said, “Turn around and see for yourself.”

Keeping Tiberius firmly pinned to the workshop door, Rhodey glanced over his shoulder, feeling his stomach drop.

Tony was in the grip of a larger boy Rhodey recognised as Edward Dodds, a student a couple of years above them at MIT. Tony’s face was a mess; a black eye was swelling over a broken nose, blood dripping over a split lip. At Rhodey’s expression at seeing his hurt friend, Dodds drew Tony closer to him like a shield.

"Put him down,” Rhodey threatened. When Dodds just grinned at him, Rhodey turned back to Tiberius, raising his hand in a fist. “Tell him to put him down, Stone. _Now_.”

Tiberius glanced over to Dodds, making a quick decision. He locked eyes with Rhodey as he called across the room. “Dodds? If Rhodey so much as musses up my hair, cut something off Stark, would you?”

Rhodey’s head jerked back in Tony’s direction as he heard his roommate cry out in panic. Dodds had spread Tony’s hand out across one of the workbenches, his arm still holding Tony securely around the waist, and Rhodey’s stomach lurched as he saw that Dodds had a wire cutter wrapped around Tony’s ring finger.

“You wouldn’t dare,” Rhodey breathed. “There are cameras-”

“Disabled. Really, you’d think MIT of all places would have better security. Now let go of me Rhodes, unless you want to see if Stark is such a whizz kid with only half his fingers.” Rhodey scanned Tiberius’s face for any signs that the other boy was bluffing. When he found none, he released him, standing back.

Tiberius smoothed his hair and straightened his tie in a manner that, if the consequences hadn’t been so dire, would have earned him a punch to the nose. Instead, Rhodey balled his hands into fists and shoved them behind his back. “What are you even doing here?”

“Dodds and I just wanted a bit of extra help with our Brighter Future interview tomorrow,” Tiberius said innocently. “And we heard you and Stark were done preparing for yours, so we figured the boy genius had some spare time on his hands.”

Rhodey looked over at Tony, who was breathing hard, panicked eyes locked on the cutters biting into his finger. “Tony,” Rhodey said, then more firmly; “ _Tony._ Look at me.” 

Tony did, and it struck Rhodey for the first time in months how _young_ Tony was. He had grown so accustomed to his roommate’s company that spending time with the teenager had become no different than hanging out with any of his adult friends. Shit, the kid wasn’t even old enough to drive a car. He shouldn’t be going through something like this.

“I’m going to get you out this,” Rhodey promised him. “They won’t hurt you. Ok?”

Slowly, Tony nodded.

“That’s sweet.” Tiberius took a seat in one of the swivel chairs, picking the water filter up in his hands and examining it. “Stark wasn’t very forthcoming about your little project.”

Rhodey ran his eyes over the scribbled notes strewn over the workbench, and for once was grateful for Tony’s haphazard method of note-taking.

“You can’t figure out how we did it.” Rhodey almost laughed. “You have _no idea_ how it works.”

“No one could understand this madness,” Tiberius snapped, referring to Tony’s notes. “And when we very politely asked Stark to explain it to us, he said some words I don’t think daddy Stark would approve of very much.”

“Your interview is before ours,” Rhodey said. “You wanted to steal our idea and present it as your own.”

“Why on earth should Stark get that placement?” Tiberius snapped at him. “The cut-off age is twenty-four. Stark has plenty more chances to get in - this is my last one. And why does he even need it? We all know he’s just going to swan into Stark Industries the moment he graduates.”

Tony gave a huff of laughter, causing Tiberius to shift his attention to him. “Something to add, Stark?”

“No,” Rhodey said quickly, giving a Tony a look to, for once in his life, keep his mouth shut.And of course, he didn’t.

“If the best idea you had was to steal _my_ idea, Tiberius, then honestly you don’t even-”

It was as far as he got before he broke off in a cry of pain, the wire cutters biting into his finger.

“Tony, shut up.” Rhodey turned back to Tiberius. “You tried. You failed. Let Tony go, and maybe I won’t bring this to the school board tomorrow.”

“Counter-idea.” Tiberius looked from Tony to Rhodey, still turning the water filter over in his hands. “Why don’t you explain to me how this little device works, and then I’ll let him go? Or don’t, and we can remove a few digits, and then you can reconsider.”

Rhodey was acutely aware of Tony’s panicked breathing behind him, of the small pool of blood gathering around Tony’s hand on the table. And as much as he hated giving Tiberius Stone anything, it wasn’t worth it. It wasn’t worth Tony getting hurt.

“Fine,” Rhodey said through gritted teeth. He reached into his backpack and pulled out his own immaculate, typed notes. He slammed them on the table in front of Tiberius. “There. Now seriously, Stone - _let him go_.”

Tiberius sifted through the notes, his forehead creasing as he saw how complex they were.“I’m more of an auditory learner,” he said. “Why don’t you run me through these yourself?”

“Jesus, Stone, we have finals in the morning.” It seemed like such a petty thing to worry about at the moment, but anything to get him and Tony out of that lab, _now_.

Tiberius met Rhodey with a cold, calculating stare before he nods over at Dodds. “Bring him here.”

“Wait-”

The moment the wire-cutters were away from Tony’s finger Rhodey made a grab for him, but Dodds swung the smaller boy out of the way and passed him off to Tiberius. Tiberius pulled Tony onto his lab like a sick parody of Santa Claus, locking his arms securely around his waist and throat.

“What are you doing?” Rhodey started forward, but Tiberius pulled Tony closer to him. Tony struggled until Dodds passed Tiberius the wire-cutters. Tiberius only had to get them close to Tony’s hands for the teenager to grow completely still.

“Good boy,” Tiberius purred as he softly pressed his lips against Tony’s neck.

Rhodey couldn’t describe why Tiberius kissing Tony was somehow a worse threat than the wire-cutters. He just knew that, as soon as Tony was free, Rhodey was going to murder the blonde boy whose hand was now in Tony’s hair, smoothing out the tangles.

“Stop it.” It was meant to sound threatening, but Rhodey’s voice came out as a croak.

“Explain your notes to me,” Tiberius said simply. “Or I will have Dodds drag you out of this lab and I will take something else from Stark instead.”

Tony had shut his eyes, one hand locked on each of Tiberius’s in a vain attempt to stop them wandering further.

“Tiberius…” Rhodey cleared his throat, trying to summon some strength back. “He’s _fifteen_.”

“Stark wants to be treated like one of the big boys, I say we let him. Don’t you agree, Tones?”

“ _Don’t_ call him that.”

“Are you going to give me a physics lesson or not, Rhodes?”

“Fine,” Rhodey agreed, no longer caring about the stupid Brighter Future Programme or finals or anything but getting Tony out of Tiberius’s arms. “Put him down and we’ll talk.”

“If you want me to let him go…” The hand on Tony’s throat moved up to his jaw, holding his head in place as Tiberius traced the line of Tony’s lips, making the teenager whimper. “Teach _fast._ ”

So Rhodey did. As quickly and succinctly as possible, he ran Tiberius through how the water filter worked. Tiberius asked an annoying amount questions, and Rhodey felt his fingernails digging into his palms every second that ticked by

Tony didn’t move the whole time, sitting in Tiberius’s lap with his eyes closed. Occasionally, Tiberius’s hands would start to wander, and Rhodey would pause and stare at Tiberius, warning the older boy not to push it. Tiberius would just smile and pull Tony a little closer, nodding at Rhodey to continue the lesson.

The night was an eternity but finally, Tiberius nodded and said. “I understand.”

”Okay,” Rhodey sighed. His head was pounding from the stress and exhaustion of staying up all night. “You understand.”

Tiberius poured over the notes one last time, arms still around Tony. “Tiberius,” Rhodey sighed. Stone looked up at the use of his first name, at the sheer tiredness and desperation in Rhodey’s voice. “Give him to me. Please. Just let him go, ok?”

“A deal is a deal.” Reluctantly, Tiberius let his arms unwind from Tony, shoving the teenager at Rhodey. Rhodey reached out instinctively, grabbing Tony and pulling him as far away from Tiberius as possible, towards him, towards safety. Tony shoved him off and Rhodey winced, realising that the last thing Tony probably wanted right now was for anyone to be touching him.

Tiberius tucked both Rhodey’s neat notes and Tony’s messy ones into his bag, then gave them both a smile. “Good luck on the exam today,” he said cordially, as though nothing had happened. He nodded to Dodds, and the two boys left, leaving Tony and Rhodey alone in the workshop as the sun began to peek over the horizon.


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you all for the lovely comments on this little fic! They fuel my keyboard.

Rhodey didn’t hear from Tony until they returned to MIT after the break.

He had tried to enjoy the brief holiday, but he could never fully relax knowing that Tony was somewhere out there dealing with the aftermath of what had happened with Stone and Dodds in the workshop. He had no phone number with which to reach out to him and even if he did, Tony had avoided Rhodey for the remainder of the term anyway.

As a last-ditch effort, Rhodey sent a letter addressed to Tony to Stark Industries. He knew it was a long shot, that it would likely be thrown straight in the trash on arrival, but it was better than doing nothing.

He filled the rest of his break with study, trying to distract himself by throwing himself into work. Rhodey knew he had a lot to make up for next semester. With the seeming guarantee of the Brighter Futures placement, Rhodey had let himself coast a little in his finals prep. He wasn’t even sure he’d passed the physics one. After that long night in the workshop, the numbers had seemed to swim off the page, refusing to form any kind of order. He had done well enough in the class assignments that he was pretty sure he had at least passed the paper, but barely.

When he needed a break from study, he was at the gym. There was a pretty decent boxing gym in his neighbourhood, and picturing slamming his first into Stone’s face was motivation enough to go every day, sometimes twice.

And when Rhodey returned to MIT after the break, so would Stone. Rhodey had begged Tony to go to the school board, to tell them what had happened, but Tony had refused. The teenager had been worryingly quiet for the last few weeks of term. Rhodey hoped that having some time and space away from MIT would allow Tony to come to terms with what had happened - at least enough that he’d be willing to approach the board when he returned.

He wasn’t.

Tony was already in their shared bedroom, lost in a textbook, when Rhodey returned, dumping his backpack on his bed. “Hey, Tones.”

Tony barely looked up at him, just giving him a nod.

“How was your break?”

“Fine.” The tone of his voice proved it had been anything but.

“Cool. Me too.” When he didn’t get a response, Rhodey asked, “What’s with the whiteboard on the door?”

“TAs put them up. For leaving notes and stuff. Meant to promote more _social interaction_.” Tony scrunched up his nose at the thought.

“Cool,” Rhodey said again. “Do you want to go grab lunch somewhere?”

“Busy. Studying.”

“Term hasn’t even started yet.” Tony just shrugged at him. “Ok.” Rhodey cast about for something else to say, hating that the easy conversations he had had with his roommate had been replaced with stilted awkwardness. “Want to go study in the library then? Coffee’s on you.”

“I’m good here.”

Rhodey sighed. “Fine. I’m going to unpack. It’s good to see you, Tony.” Rhodey reached out and squeezed Tony’s shoulder.

Tony flinched. He ripped his shoulder out of Rhodey’s grasp, not meeting his eyes. Rhodey froze, not sure what to do. Finally, he just mumbled, “Sorry,” and got to unpacking, feeling a sense of dread settle in his gut. Tony wasn’t even _close_ to coming to terms with what had happened.

It was going to be a long semester.

***

They were a week into classes when the first note was left on Rhodey and Tony’s whiteboard.

Rhodey was returning from a particularly harrowing physics lecture when he saw it. Four letters etched in thick black pen.

_SLUT._

Rhodey gritted his teeth. He had only seen Stone once since getting back to school. He’d been in the cafeteria, surrounded by admirers, gloating about his Brighter Futures placement. His eyes had locked with Rhodey’s, and he’d given him a jaunty wink and smile. It had taken all of Rhodey’s self-control not to vault across the table and punch Stone in his stupid, overly white teeth.

His promise to Tony stopped him. Tony had made him swear not to go after Stone or Dodds. It had been their only real interaction since the incident.

“Stone’s connected,” Tony had reminded his roommate. “And Dodds? His parents are oil tycoons. It’s your word against theirs, and they’ll win. You’ll get kicked out of MIT.”

“I don’t care!”

“I care.” The words had been said in a small voice, and Rhodey wondered if the teenager had ever said them before. “Don’t, Rhodey. Please.”

So Rhodey had balled his hands into fists and walked away. And of course, he didn’t want to be kicked out of MIT, he cared about what that would do to his future - to his career. But most of all, he didn’t want Tony to end up alone.

Rhodey used the sleeve of his jacket to hastily wipe the whiteboard clean, praying that Tony hadn’t seen it yet. He breathed a sigh of relief when he stepped into their shared bedroom and found it empty.

He wasn’t so lucky the next time. Or the time after that.

The words came daily. _Slut. Whore. Bitch._ Rhodey started hanging out in their room more with the door open, but it seemed that Stone had his and Tony’s class schedules memorised, because the words still came, and he never caught him in the act.

Rhodey tried to talk to Tony about it, but the teenager had retreated so far into his shell that Rhodey considered it a win if he could get so much as a “hello” out of him. Only Rhodey’s promise to Tony stopped him from marching into Stone’s room and beating that smug look off his face.

He went to the TA instead, not dropping Stone’s name, but explaining the situation with the whiteboard, and asking if the TA or campus security could step in and do anything about it.

The TA suggested that Rhodey take the whiteboard down.

He had. A week ago. Stone had just written right on the door instead.

When Tony stopped going to classes, Rhodey decided that enough was enough. “Get up,” he told his roommate, tossing some clothes at him. Tony was lying in bed, not moving, the sheets pulled up over his head. The clothes were met with a muffled grunt of protest.

“Up,” Rhodey repeated, pulling the sheet back. Tony stared up at him indignantly.

“I know everything they’re teaching in that stupid class. I’m not going.”

“We’re not going to class. Get dressed.”

Tony sighed but did as he was told. Even that was somewhat worrisome - Rhodey had expected more of a fight, but these days it seemed like Tony just didn’t have it in him.

Rhodey led Tony out of the dorms and across the courtyard. Tony only paused when he realised that Rhodey was leading him off-campus.

“Where are we going, Rhodes?”

“You’ll see.”

It was a fifteen-minute walk to the boxing gym Rhodey had discovered a few days ago. He had scoped it out himself and found it wasn’t too dissimilar to the one he had been training in over the break. Tony’s eyes narrowed when he saw it. “What is this?” he asked, his voice flat.

“A boxing gym.”

“I can see that.” A bit of the old Tony was creeping back into his voice. “What, is punching going to help me feel manly or something?”

Rhodey shrugged. “No idea. But it’s fun.”

Tony rolled his eyes, but let Rhodey lead him inside and select a pair of hand wraps for him.

As they began to run through Rhodey’s routine, some of Tony’s old energy started to come back. When they had warmed up, Rhodey handed Tony a pair of gloves and led him into the ring.

“We’re going to start with some basics,” Rhodey told him, holding up a pair of pads for Tony to slide over his hands, then pulling on some boxing gloves. “I’ll start. Four straight punches, then a duck - and you duck with me. We do that forty times, then we switch. Ready?”

Tony nodded. He met Rhodey’s punches tentatively at first, then began to get into the rhythm of it. They got to forty, then went to swap pads for gloves. “Nice,” Rhodey said, clapping him briefly on the shoulder as they got back into position. He felt Tony tense at the touch but continued as if nothing had happened. “Now you punch. Forty sets.”

They were both panting and sweating by the time they had moved through several different combinations. Every time they swapped the gloves and pads, Rhodey would give Tony a quick pat on the shoulder. After the first couple of times, the teenager stopped tensing.

“Not bad,” Rhodey said, as they neared the end of the session. “But your feet aren’t quite right. Like mine. Hold on - I’ll show you.”

Praying he wasn’t pushing this too far, Rhodey went behind Tony and guided his shoulders into position. Tony didn’t seem tense, so Rhodey gave him a quick squeeze before they starting sparring again.

The boxing was more about endorphins and teaching Tony some self-defence. Rhodey wanted Tony to get used to being touched again. From the way he had reacted on the first day back at MIT, Rhodey had surmised that maybe he hadn’t let anyone touch him since Stone. His parents didn’t seem like the touchy-feely type. Rhodey had hoped it would get better, but it was the opposite. Tony was developing an aversion to even the idea of being touched now, refusing to take papers back from their professors and not letting the staff in the cafeteria hand him food. It had to be placed down first, and then he would pick it up.

“So, boxing?” Rhodey asked as they re-entered campus. “Did it make you feel…ok?”

“Sure.”

“Do you want to go again?” When Tony shrugged, Rhodey tried a different tactic. “I got really into it over break, but it’s not as good when you don’t have a regular sparring partner. It would be nice to have one again. If that’s not too much to ask.”

“Oh.” Tony was surprised. “Yeah. Yeah, I’ll be your partner, if you need one.” 

“Thanks, Tones.” _Ok. That worked. Noted._

It was tactic he tried again the next time Tony refused to get out of bed to come to class. “I know everything anyway,” Tony groaned.  


“ Yeah but…” Rhodey made a show of being sheepish. “I don’t. I’m actually a little lost.”

“Really? It’s not that hard.”

“Not to _you_. But think you could maybe walk me through it? We could hit the library after class?”

Tony grumbled as he threw off the blankets. “Shower first though!” Rhodey told him, playfully punching him on the shoulder, and checking to see if the contact made him uncomfortable. It didn’t.

The whiteboard notes still came. _Slut. Whore. Bitch._ Anyone but Rhodey touching him was still off the table. And sometimes, when he thought Rhodey was asleep, Rhodey heard Tony crying in the middle of the night. 

But now he got out of bed every day. He went to class. He boxed with Rhodey. And slowly but surely, Rhodey was certain his roommate was improving, and the worst was behind them.

He was wrong. The worst was still to come.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter was in part inspired by Marisha Ray's "Between the Sheets" interview, which you can view here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i6UxCDopt-U


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yes, the chapter count did increase. I do as my writer's brain commands.

Rhodey had come back from a date, and was feeling pretty damn good about it, when he walked into his room and saw Tony going through his backpack.

The grin dropped from his face as he stepped into the room, pointedly slamming the door behind him. “Help you find something?”

Tony didn’t look at him. He threw Rhodey’s last test result to the side of the backpack, before digging out the one from the week before and doing the same. “You should really get some kind of filing system,” Tony mused, as he kept searching. “And you get on _my_ case for being disorganised.”

Rhodey tugged the bag out of Tony’s hands. “What are you on about?”

Tony looked up at him with the cold indifference Rhodey hadn’t seen since their first weeks at MIT. “You’re a good student, Rhodes. Straight As. An A+ here or there.”

“Ok?” Five minutes ago a cute girl had been kissing him goodbye. Now he was in the middle of…whatever this is. “Thought you were struggling in class.”

_Oh._ “I was. But you came with me, remember? Helped explain things. What, did I beat you in a test or something?”

Tony snorted. “Hardly.”

“Then what- ”

“Maybe you could run me through it,” Tony mocked Rhodey’s earlier words back at him. “Maybe we could hit the library after class. After all those boxing sessions you apparently needed a partner for.”

“I did need a partner -”

“Stop lying to me!” Tony grabbed the stack of test papers and shoved them into Rhodey’s chest. “You never struggled with class; you’ve never gotten lower than an A-. And I’ve seen you at that gym, Rhodes. You know everyone there and their moms by now. Any one of them would train with you.”

“Ok,” Rhodey relented. “Fine, Sherlock, you win. But I had to get you out of bed _somehow_ -”

“You didn’t have to do shit.”

Rhodey’s temper was rising, his hands curling into fists. “Yeah, you’re right. I didn’t have to do anything. I could have left you to wallow until you flunked out of class but I didn’t because -”

“Because I’m useful to you, right? You do me a huge favour, I do you one back? Without that Brighter Futures placement on your resume, I guess you needed some kind of advantage on your side when you graduate, right?”

Rhodey threw his hands up in frustration. “I thought we were past this! I’m not trying to use you, Tones-”

“It’s Tony. Or are you too lazy to say the extra syllable.”

“Fine, Tony, whatever. How many times do I have to say this? I don’t want to work at Stark Industries, I’m not using you to get to your dad…Jesus, Tony, I’m looking out for you because we’re _friends_. Because I care about your arrogant, egotistical ass and I know you care about me too. The only way I could get you to do anything for yourself was by thinking that you were doing it for me.”

“Yeah, well, congratulations, Rhodes. It was quite the act. I was completely buying it there, for a bit. But you can stop pretending now. Maybe put your efforts into somewhere more useful, like actual job applications instead of trying to make contacts you think will give you shortcuts.”

“Tony -”

“You must have thought you won the damn lottery when I showed up in your room, right? Wrong. You’ve just wasted your time on me.”

“ _Tony_ -”

But Tony was already pushing his way past Rhodey out of their room, slamming the door behind him so hard that the framed Black Sabbath poster above his bed crashed to the floor. 

***

Tony avoided Rhodey for the rest of the week. After their fight, Rhodey had taken to sleeping on one of the common room couches to avoid their shared room. As concerned as he was for Tony, as much as he forced himself to remember that Tony was _fifteen_ , Rhodey was fuming. He thought he had proved to Tony that he wasn’t trying to use him, that he just wanted to be the little punk’s friend, that he _did_ care about him, goddamnit. Hadn’t that night in the workshop proved that?

_Or maybe that night proved that everyone he meets really does just want to use him._

_Not everyone,_ Rhodey thought. With a new resolve, he went looking for Tony. He was the adult; he’d made the first move.

It took some exploring before he found him. Their regular computer lab was off-limits, due to the building it was located in being scheduled for extermination that week. He found him in the western computer lab instead, and was surprised to see he wasn’t sitting alone.

Tony was sitting at a computer with a boy Rhodey recognised as Harvey Jones from their first-year mathematics course. Jones was an undergraduate who was barely older than Tony - only seventeen or so, who sat up the front of every lecture, taking copious notes and talking to nobody.

As Rhodey got closer, he could overhear their conversation. They were discussing the class’s term paper, which was due tomorrow, and was currently unfinished.

_Do you never learn, Stark?_

“I put so much work into it,” Rhodey heard Jones say, and paused. Jones’s voice was thick, as though he’d been crying. “I’m not going to get something even close to that good done the night before.”

“It’s not about good, it’s about finished,” Tony replied. “Come on, you must have had other ideas, other theses.”

“Yeah, but it’s not the same. I did so much research and planning -”

“Jones,” Tony snapped at him. “Your paper’s gone, ok? It’s going to get submitted under Stone’s name and he’s getting that shiny gold star you want so badly. It’s not fair, but that’s what’s going to happen.”

Rhodey froze at the mention of Stone’s name, just as Tony seemed to realised they weren’t alone, and whipped his head around to where Rhodey was watching them. His eyes narrowed. “Spying on me now, Rhodes?”

Rhodey was looking from Jones, whose eyes he could now see were red and puffy, to Tony. “Did you say Stone stole your paper, Jones?”

Tony jumped in before Jones could reply. “It’s none of your business.”

“If Stone is stealing from other people as well now…yeah, I think it might be.”

“Wait.” Jones looked at Tony with wide eyes. “He stole from you too? You didn’t say -”

“It doesn’t matter,” Tony cut him off.

“Tony,” Rhodey pressed him. “If he’s stolen from more than one person, you could all go to the school board together. Get him kicked out of here.”

“I could get my paper back,” Jones breathed. “I wouldn’t have to do a new one!”

Tony rolled his eyes at him. “Do you have any idea who Tiberius Stone is, Jones?”

“Um…”

“Smart in class, but that’s about it right?”

“Tony-” Rhodey started but Tony ignored him.

“You go against him, _anyone_ goes against him, they’re not just going to get kicked out of MIT. They’re going to be kicked out of whatever industry they had dreams of working in. If they’re lucky.”

“But if enough of us go- ” Jones began, but Tony didn’t let him get further.

“You don’t know what he’s capable of,” Tony said harshly. “You don’t _want_ to know what he’s capable of. So shut up and explain your backup thesis to me so I can help you get this in by 9 am. I don’t have to do this, Jones. Mine’s done. Ok?” Tony turned his cold stare from Jones to Rhodey. “You still here, Rhodes?”

Rhodey hesitated. “You going to be here all night?”

“Yep.”

“Then I’m staying.”

“I told you to knock the act off, Rhodes, it’s getting you nowhere.”

“It’s not an act, Tony! What do I have to do to get you do see that?”

“I don’t need a babysitter, remember? Some of the first words you said to me - one of the only honest things you’ve said. You were right. I can look after myself. _I don’t need you_.”

“Fine,” Rhodey snapped, stung. “That’s your choice.”

“Yeah, it is,” Tony shot back. “And you can sleep in your own goddamn bed, Rhodes. We’re still roommates. But that’s all we are. Ok?”

“Yeah,” Rhodey muttered. “Message received, Stark.”

Then he turned on his heel and stormed out of the computer lab, leaving Tony with only Jones for company.

***

Tony wasn’t in his bed when Rhodey woke up the next morning.

Rhodey checked the time - 8:50 am. Cursing that he’d overslept, he tugged on the first pants that looked clean enough to wear and jogged to his lecture, having to take a detour due to the closed down building. It looked as if a circus big top had been erected in the middle of the campus, the chunky red and white stripes of the extermination tent clashing with the classic architecture of the university.

Rhodey slid into his lecture at 9:10 am, mumbling an apology to the professor as he hastily took the closest seat to the door, in the front row. Jones was the only one who shared the row with him. Rhodey looked around the lecture hall.

He didn’t see Tony anywhere.

“Jones,” Rhodey whispered. “Jones!”

Jones looked over to him, his eyes bloodshot from stress and lack of sleep. He jerked his head towards the professor, gave Rhodey a reproachful look, and went back to his furious note-taking.

“Jones!” Rhodey slid a few seats over so he was right beside the younger boy. “Where’s Tony?”

“Mr Rhodes,” the professor called out, causing the whole classroom to turn and stare at him.

Rhodey felt his cheeks flare in embarrassment. “Sorry, sir.”

“First you are late, then you interrupt my class. If you continue to disturb the other students who are actually here to learn, you can leave.”

“Won’t happen again, sir.”

The professor returned to his lecture. Rhodey scribbled something in his notebook before tapping Jones on the shoulder. He had to do it several times before Jones finally looked at what he had written. _Where’s Stark?_

Casting a nervous look at the professor, Jones just shrugged, pushing the notebook away. Rhodey pushed it back, underlining the question.  _Where’s Stark?_

“Rhodes!”

_Shit._ Rhodey looked up and saw the professor staring at him in outrage. “Passing notes? Are you a fourth-grade girl?”

“No, sir.”

“Because this is MIT, and I don’t think fourth graders are qualified.”

Rhodey took the hint, shovelling his stuff into his backpack and leaving the classroom with a further apology for the disruption.

Usually he’d be fuming, but class didn’t matter right now. He had to find Tony.

He started by heading back to their bedroom, praying that Tony had just been exhausted after helping Jones with his paper and had gone to bed instead of going to the lecture. But when Rhodey pushed open the door, he found the room empty.

“Tony?” he called as he stepped into the room, as though Tony was going step out from behind the door and yell “Boo!” like it was some elaborate prank. Rhodey was going to kill him if this was a prank.

_It’s not a prank, Rhodes._

A weight had settled in Rhodey’s chest the moment he had seen that Tony was absent from their lecture. Something was wrong, he could feel it.

Rhodey checked the rest of their dormitory next, starting with the bathrooms before he began banging on doors, only finding disgruntled faces telling them they hadn’t seen Tony since last night.

He checked the boxing gym next, asking the other regulars if they had seen the teenager. They said no, so Rhodey checked the workshops. The computer labs. The common rooms. He poked his head into their afternoon biology lecture, but abandoned it when Tony was nowhere to be seen.

When it started to get dark, Rhodey went to his dorm’s live-in TA.

The TA told him a student had to be missing for twenty-four hours before authorities were contacted.

“You don’t understand,” Rhodey insisted, even as the TA ushered him out the door. He had been struggling with the decision to rat on Stone all day, weighing up his promise to Tony with the potential danger his roommate might be in. He settled for, “There have been notes left on our door, remember?”

“Threatening notes?”

“Yes!” Rhodey was in the doorway of the TA’s office now, one foot in the gap to stop him shutting the door on him.

“I thought the notes were joking around, like saying ‘slut’ and stuff.”

Rhodey glared at him. “They weren’t a _joke_.”

The TA shrugged. “They don’t sound threatening to me.” Then he nudged Rhodey’s foot out of the way so he could close the door.

At 9 pm, Rhodey called Stark Industries. He got an automated voice message saying to call back within their office hours of 9 am - 5 pm. He left a message anyway, then went back to his room with the sliver of hope that Tony would be there.

He wasn’t.

Rhodey sat on Tony’s bed, his head in his hands. _Why didn’t I just walk his stubborn ass home?_

He took a breath to settle himself. So apparently finding Tony was up to him. Fine. He’d find him.

But first, he was going to find Tiberius Stone.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next chapter, it's all going down.


	6. Chapter 6

Tiberius lived in one of the nicer dorms on campus. Rhodey slammed his fist on his door, not caring about the late hour. “Stone! Open up!”

There was no response, so Rhodey banged again - harder. “I’ll kick it down - I don’t care who your daddy is. Open the door!”

The door to Rhodey’s right cracked open, a disgruntled head popping through it. “Do you know what time it is?”

“Where’s Stone?” Rhodey shot at the girl. “He here?”

She looked at him resentfully as she yawned. “Nah, said something about having birthday plans? Haven’t seen him since this evening.”

_This evening._ Rhodey tucked that information away. “Any idea where he went?”

The girl shrugged. “No. We’re not exactly friends. Just keep it down, will you?”

“Fine,” Rhodey said, already turning his attention back to the door.

“Hey.” The girl eyed him warily.

“What?”

“You ok?”

Rhodey suddenly realised what he must look like - tired and stressed and threatening to destroy MIT property. “Stone…” He struggled how to phrase it. “I think he has something of mine. Something important.”

“Ok, well, consider if it’s important enough to get kicked out of MIT for.”

“It is,” Rhodey replied without hesitation.

“Your call,” the girl said. “But don’t break the door down, ok? He doesn’t lock it.”

Rhodey tried the door. She was right - it swung right open. Rhodey scoffed in disbelief. “Isn’t he worried about people stealing his stuff?”

“Who would be crazy enough to steal from Tiberius Stone?” She gave him a pointed look as she closed her own door behind her.

Rhodey stepped into Tiberius’s room. _And I thought Tony was a slob_. There were clothes and papers scattered everywhere, one of the beds a mess of unmade sheets. The other was primly made, as though it had never been slept in. In fact, it did only look as if one person lived here.

_Trust Stone to buy his way into a private room,_ Rhodey thought as he started searching through the debris. He didn’t find anything that told him where Tony might be, but after about twenty minutes or so, he stumbled onto pure gold.

Harvey Jones’s mathematics term paper, with Jones’s name still printed across the top.

His heart racing, Rhodey searched the other papers. Here was one from Penelope Lopez. One from Gi Hyun-Jae. In fact, it seemed as though most of Tiberius’s assignments had been stolen from his fellow students.

Rhodey gathered up the assignments and made to leave the dormitory, when he paused, and knocked on the girl’s door again. It flew open and he was met with a stare of disbelief and rage. He put his hands up in surrender.

“What are you playing at?” she snapped at him.

Rhodey pushed the papers into her hands. “Could you hold to these for me? Just for a bit?”

The disbelief grew. “If I take them will _you let me fucking sleep_?”

“Scout’s honour. It’s Rhodes, by the way. James Rhodes - friends call me Rhodey.”

“I won’t be calling you that yet. Did you just steal something from Stone and come to dump it on me?”

She was already trying to pass the papers back to him. “I’ll be back,” Rhodey promised her, not taking them. “He won’t know. I promise.”

“What do you want with them?”

“To get him kicked out of school.”

“That’ll ruin you.”

“I don’t care.”

Something past the annoyance and bewilderment flashed in her face - something Rhodey could have swore was admiration. “Endo,” she said finally. “Suzanne Endo. Friends call me Suzi, but you can’t - not yet.”

“If I get rid of Stone?”

“You can take me out for coffee and I’ll consider it.”

Rhodey managed a small smile, despite the desperate situation. “Coffee it is.”

Suzi shut the door, and Rhodey was immediately heading out of the dormitory.

Find Tony. Take down Stone. Take cute girl out for coffee.

_Let’s go, Rhodes._

***

Rhodey was crossing campus, trying to decide what his next move would be. If Tiberius really did have Tony somewhere, he couldn’t have taken him far if Suzi had seen him that evening. But Rhodey had looked everywhere he could think of on campus. His next thought (and he felt like throwing up when he thought it) was to go to the nearby hotels, where Tiberius could have taken Tony to a private room. For what, Rhodey wasn’t going to let himself think about. He would find Tony because it got that far.

Rhodey had already aimed for the nearest campus exit when he saw it - the obvious answer. A place close to campus, where no one else would go.

Rhodey changed course and headed straight for the building that had been closed down for extermination.

The process wasn’t scheduled until tomorrow, and all students had been warned to stay away from the toxic gasses and fumes that would fill the building when it began. Rhodey pushed his way into the red and white tent, and headed for the room he thought most likely for Tony to be in - the workshop where Tiberius and Dodds had stolen their Brighter Future interview idea.

The building was almost pitch black, with only the glowing EXIT signs above the fire escapes to guide Rhodey’s way. The darkness and quiet raised goosebumps down his arms as he tried to stay as quiet as possible. As he made his way to the workshop, he saw a light in one of the windows, and moved faster.

The door wasn’t locked. Rhodey pushed it open, flinching when the hinges creaked. The light was coming from a single lamp in one corner, throwing most of the room into shadow. It was enough though to illuminate a figure tied to a chair in the centre of the room.

Rhodey’s eyes darted around the room. It appeared to be otherwise empty - at least from his limited vantage point through the door. For a moment, he considered getting help, finding a phone or calling the cops, but he couldn’t just leave Tony, not when he’d finally found him, not when didn’t know when Tiberius would be back.

Rhodey crept into the room and, when nothing happened, he bolted to Tony’s side.

_“Tony!”_

The teenager’s head jerked up, and Rhodey decided at that moment he was going to kill Tiberius Stone.

Tiberius had secured Tony to the chair with a number of wires and cables from the lab, which were wrapped over his roommate’s chest, waist, arms and legs. More wires were wrapped firmly around his mouth, keeping a fabric gag in place, and cutting into his cheeks so deeply that there were trickles of blood running down his chin.

Rhodey went to start removing the bonds, so concerned for his friend’s wellbeing that he didn’t register the look of warning in Tony’s eyes until it was too late.

Something hit him across the back of the head so hard he tasted blood. The world tilted violently, and he felt like he was going to be sick as he collapsed onto his hands and knees. He was vaguely aware of arms around him, dragging him backwards. He struggled, but that made the world sway again.

He had the sense of his hands being placed around something cold and hard, and then something wrapping tightly around his wrists, cutting into his skin. His senses were starting to come back to him now, the pain in his head receding to a dull throb. He looked up to see Tiberius leering down at him, that stupid blonde hair reflecting gold in the lamplight.

Rhodey tugged on his wrists, seeing now that they were firmly tied around one of the workbench’s legs with a thick cable. Rhodey looked behind Tiberius to where Tony was watching him, eyes wide and desperate. Something warm trickled onto his collar. That probably wasn’t good.

“You could never leave well enough alone, could you, Rhodes?” 

Tiberius crouched down so he was eye level with Rhodey. Rhodey’s hands curled into fists, which Tiberius noted.

“All those boxing sessions aren’t going to save you or Stark now. How frustrating - to get this close and still fail.”

Rhodey ignored him, focussing on Tony. “Tony. You’re going to be ok. I’m going to get you out of this.”

Tiberius gripped Rhodey’s chin and forced him to look at him instead, placing himself in Rhodey’s line of sight to Tony. “No,” he mused. “I don’t think you are. You don’t get to play the hero this time, Rhodes.”

“You think I came here without a contingency plan?” Rhodey shot back, thinking fast. Was it just his imagination, or did Tiberius’s resolve waver? “I found all your stolen papers, Stone - all the evidence I need to prove that you’ve been cheating your way through MIT. If me and Tony aren’t back by morning - back and _unharmed_ \- they’re going straight to the school board.”

Tiberius’s eyes narrowed. “Who’s going to give them to the school board?”

_Shit._ Rhodey really didn’t want to give Tiberius Suzi’s name. Even though he had only known her for five minutes, he was actually looking forward to that cup of coffee.

“Fine.” Tiberius stood, and turned back towards Tony.

“Don’t you dare!” Rhodey yelled at him, struggling against the bindings as Tiberius made his way around the back of Tony’s chair. “Don’t you touch him!”

“Tell me who has the papers, then.”

_Think, Rhodes. Think fast._

Tiberius had begun to massage Tony’s shoulders, bending down so his cheek was pressed against the teenager’s. Tony tried to lean away but couldn’t, panicked eyes finding Rhodey’s. Rhodey tried to look reassuring as he said, “I gave them to the guys at the boxing gym.”

“Why don’t I believe you, Rhodes?”

Tiberius’s hand was drifting down Tony’s chest now, the other stroking his hair. “It’s true!” Rhodey retorted. “I couldn’t give them to anyone at MIT. They won’t risk going against you. But those guys? Blue-collar workers, mostly. They don’t give a shit about you, Stone, or what your family does for a living.”

Tiberius considered his words. “They’ll care,” he said in a low voice. “I think you underestimate me, Rhodes. I think you don’t quite comprehend just how far my family’s influence spreads. Didn’t Stark warn you about me?”

“I told you who has the papers.” Rhodey hated that he couldn’t keep the shake of his voice. “So get your hands off him.”

Tiberius just grinned as he pulled Tony closer, wrapping both arms around his body. Tony closed his eyes, causing tears to spill from under his eyelids.

“Oh, that won’t do,” Tiberius said softly, as he pressed his lips to where a tear had fallen, kissing it away. “Should I make you feel better? It’s almost midnight, isn’t it?”

“What’s midnight got to do with anything?” Rhodey said. He tried to pull himself free again, but the way Tiberius had tied the knots just made them tighten the more Rhodey fought them.

“He doesn’t know?” Tiberius asked Tony. “I thought you two were such close friends. And yet he doesn’t know when your birthday is?”

“Ok…” Rhodey was casting about wildly for something, _anything,_ to get them both out of this. “What does that have to do with anything?”

“Stark’ll be sixteen,” Tiberius continued. “You don’t think I’d try anything serious with anyone underage, do you?”

The words and their implication took a moment to sink in. “No…” Rhodey breathed. “You wouldn’t.”

He would. Rhodey could see it in the blonde boy’s eyes, see in the way he was caressing Tony’s body. He would.

“I’ll give you anything,” Rhodey said, not even caring that he was begging now, not caring that his words were dripping with desperation. “Name it. I could…I could do all your assignments. I’m a straight-A student. I could…” His mind supplied him with another possibility, one that made him feel cold to his bones, but it only took him a split second to decide to offer it anyway.

“I could take his place. You can have me, Stone. Me instead of Tony.”

Tony’s eyes flew open as they stared at Rhodey in disbelief and horror. Tiberius gave a low chuckle as he heard Rhodey’s offer. “Sorry, Rhodes. You’re not my type - no offence or anything. But you being here does complicate things. So I will strike a deal - but not with you.”

Tiberius detangled himself from Tony and approached Rhodey. Rhodey flinched when Tiberius undid the belt of his trousers, sliding it off and holding it taut. “Move, and it’ll be worse for Stark,” Tiberius threatened as he bent over Rhodey. Rhodey didn’t want to find out what could possibly be worse than what Tiberius had already said he was going to do, so he kept still as Tiberius wound the belt around his mouth and buckled it tightly in place. The leather cut into Rhodey’s cheeks as Tiberius made his way back to Tony, leaning over him again so he could speak into his ear.

“It’s time, Tony,” Tiberius said softly. “We’re going to go somewhere, and we’re going to celebrate your birthday - just you and me. Which means I’m going to have to untie you for a bit. So this is my deal for you. Are you listening closely?”

He smirked as he stroked Tony’s tear-stained cheek, eyes on Rhodey. “If you’re a good little boy, and you come quietly and _behave,_ I’ll come back and untie Rhodes before the exterminators pump this place full of all those nasty gasses. If not…” He trailed off, grinning at Rhodey, waiting for his reaction.

Rhodey ignored him, his eyes on Tony. He was shaking his head at the teenager, imploring him not to do a thing Tiberius said. He was pretty sure Tiberius wasn’t coming back for him either way - no matter what Tony did.

The panic had receded from Tony’s eyes. In its place was a firm resolution, one that Rhodey recognised all too well. Tony Stark, who wouldn’t get out of bed, wouldn’t go to class, wouldn’t work on overcoming his trauma in any way for himself - but had done it for Rhodey.

Tony nodded, agreeing to Tiberius’s deal.

Rhodey redoubled his efforts to get free, trying to shout into the belt for Tony to fight back, to run, to do anything but what was about to happen. Tiberius started undoing the many bindings around Tony, freeing him from the chair, although he left on the ones around his mouth and reused one of the cables to tie Tony’s hands securely behind his back.

Tony let it happen. “Good boy,” Tiberius whispered in his ear, wrapping his arms around him and beginning to pull him from the workshop. “Have a good night, Rhodes,” were the last words Rhodey heard before the door closed behind them, leaving him alone in the workshop.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I would like to apologise for my writer's brain's love of cliffhangers. My writer's brain would not like to apologise at all.


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's here, folks! And thank you again for all the comments and kudos! My writer's brain is well-fed.

_Ok, Rhodes. Time to be smart. Focus._

Rhodey tried as best he could to block out any thoughts of what Tiberius was doing to Tony, at the resolve in his friend’s eyes as Tiberius dragged him away, so much worse than the panic and fear that had preceded it. If Tony had still been scared of Tiberius, he would still fight, would still do anything to prevent what was about to happen. But Tiberius’s ‘birthday celebrations’ were no longer the thing Tony feared most. It was Rhodey getting hurt.

Rhodey was not letting Tony give up like that, and certainly not for him.

He tested how much movement he had. His wrists were tied so tightly he couldn’t even twist them from side-to-side, and the belt around his mouth prevented him using his teeth to undo the knots. The most he could manage was to slide them up and down the leg of the workbench. The leg was made of square metal and Rhodey figured if he worked long enough, he might be able to cut through the cable binding his wrists.

_If he worked long enough._ The cable was thick, made of dense rubber. No matter how fast he worked, Rhodey doubted that he could cut through it in time to get to Tony before Tiberius - 

_Don’t think about that. Focus._

Rhodey tugged hard on the workbench and it shifted - just a quarter inch. So it wasn’t bolted to the floor. That was good. If he could turn the bench on its side, he could at least free his hands from the table leg. He’s still be tied up, but he would be able to move around.

Rhodey tried to flip the table. It wasn’t budging.

The workbench itself shouldn’t be this heavy, so he figured there was something weighing it down. Rhodey leaned his head back as far as he could to see.

His heart sank when he saw the culprit. There was some kind of mechanical engine, probably from a car, on the edge of the workbench closest to him. That wasn’t going to be easily moved.

Rhodey wrenched his wrists from left to right, making the table sway. The engine shifted, just slightly. He did it again. And again.

_Ok. Yes. This is working._ The car engine was slowly but surely wobbling its way toward the edge of the bench. Rhodey kept repeating the action, faster and faster, when he realised just where the engine was going to fall - right on top of him.

Rhodey experimented with the bindings, seeing how far he could twist himself away from his current position. He reckoned he could at least protect his head, and as long as it didn’t knock him out…

_Tony’s running out of time_.

Rhodey kept shifting the engine closer to the edge. When it was teetering, Rhodey ducked his head down and protected himself as best he could. With one final wiggle of the workbench, the engine wobbled one, then collapsed off the edge - right onto Rhodey’s lower back.

It hurt like hell. Tears sprung into his eyes as he tried to breathe through his nose, the pain blazing fire over his back. He could feel where the machinery had sliced open his skin when it struck, blood soaking into his t-shirt. 

_Come on. Get to Tony._

Taking one more deep breath, Rhodey flipped over the workbench, and slid his bound hands off the metal leg.

Immediately he unbuckled the belt around his mouth, gulping air. His jaw was aching; he was going to have a nasty bruise in the morning. He clambered to his feet, feeling the blood that had pooled on his back soak into his trousers, and staggered to the workshop door, taking one more deep breath before wrenching it open and stumbling out in search of Tiberius and Tony.

He worked on freeing his hands as he moved, using his teeth to pull apart the complicated knots until the cable was loose enough to wriggle out of. He threw it aside and kept moving, ignoring the pain from the gash in his back as he started checking classrooms, offices, bathrooms, ears straining for any noise.

Just as he was becoming desperate, just as he was wondering if Tiberius had dragged Tony to a new location altogether, he heard movement.

Rhodey sprinted in the direction of the noise, bursting into a small library. It was almost pitch black, his eyes adjusting to make out the shelves of books, but there, in the back corner - was a small light. Rhodey ran towards it, trying to move with haste without announcing his presence. He rounded the corner of the last row of books and -

He would never get the image out of his mind, of Tiberius bending over Tony, the teenager still bound and gagged, with Tiberius’s lips pressed over his.

Rhodey saw red. Forgetting about any attempts to be stealthy, he let loose a roar as he went for Tiberius. He was rewarded with a satisfying look of absolute shock and fear in the blonde boy’s eyes as he gripped him by the shoulders and ripped him off Tony, throwing him into the bookshelf. Tiberius crumpled in a heap on the worn carpet, twisting his head to see at Rhodey advancing on him.

“Rhodes…please,” he begged and it was the sweetest sound Rhodey had ever heard. He grabbed Tiberius and slammed him into the bookshelves a second time, bringing a number of heavy tomes down on his head. A final fist to the jaw, and he was down.

Rhodey barely gave himself time to enjoy the moment, already moving back towards Tony. When Rhodey reached for him, Tony flinched away at the touch.

“Tones…”

Tony was staring at the ground, and his eyes seemed to be a million miles away. Rhodey let out a long breath, feeling a lump form in his throat.

“Tones,” he said again, keeping his voice soft and gentle. “It’s ok. I’m here. I’m going to untie you, ok?” He reached for Tony’s wrists but the teenager jerked them out of his reach, breathing heavily into the gag.

“We need to get out of here,” Rhodey pressed him, his eyes darting to Tiberius. He was still unconscious, but Rhodey didn’t know for much longer. “Tones, it’s _me_. I’m not going to hurt you, I promise.”

Tony didn’t look at him, just pushed himself further back into the bookshelf, trying to get out of Rhodey’s reach.

Rhodey took a deep breath, casting another worried look at Tiberius. He was sure he could knock Stone straight back out if he stirred, but Tony was already freaked out enough without Tiberius being conscious as well.

So Rhodey switched tactics - to the one he knew would work, maybe the only one that would work. “Tones,” he said softly. “I’m hurt.”

Something sparked in Tony’s eyes, and Rhodey felt a glimmer of hope. “Getting free in the workshop - something fell on my back. I can’t see the cut, but it feels pretty bad. It’s still bleeding.” It was. Rhodey had ignored it, adrenaline fuelling him, but he could feel it beginning to drain out of him, pain taking its place. “And it hurts - a lot. So I need you to help me, ok? And you can’t do that with your hands tied up like that.”

Tony seemed to switch back on, his eyes going wide when he saw the blood that had soaked into Rhodey’s clothing. He gathered his resolve, and nodded.

“Ok,” Rhodey said, relieved. “I’m going to move over to you now, ok? Can I move closer to you?”

Again, Tony nodded. Rhodey shuffled forward until Tony was in reach. “I’m going to go behind you now, ok?” He waited for Tony’s permission before he manoeuvred himself around Tony so he could reach his hands, wincing when he saw just how tightly Tiberius had tied his friend’s wrists together. The skin was bright red, shades of blue already showing.

Rhodey exhaled as he went to undo them. _Moment of truth._ “I’m going to touch your hands now, ok? Just your hands. Is that alright?”

He felt Tony tense, but he gave him a nod, letting him proceed. Tony flinched when Rhodey’s fingers touched the tender skin around his wrists, but he didn’t move out of Rhodey’s grasp. Rhodey took that as a good sign, and went to work on the knots. It took him the better part of ten minutes to get them all undone, but at last Tony’s wrists were free.

“Ok,” Rhodey breathed. “I imagine they’re feeling a bit numb, yeah? You can’t help me until you’ve got the blood flow back, so while that happens I’m going to take the gag off. That means I’m going to have to touch you around your mouth and head. Do I have your permission to do that?” Tony’s breathing grew harsher, but he nodded for Rhodey to continue.

The gag was even harder to remove than the cable. Tiberius had twisted the various wires that were holding it in place so they all were all looped in with one another, crisscrossing in mad patterns. Rhodey tried to remove them as gently as possible, aware that pulling one too fast or too tightly would make the wire cut further into Tony’s cheeks. When he removed the first one, and saw the bloody mark it had left against the teenager’s face, his temper flared red hot again, and it was all he could do not to approach the still unconscious Tiberius and break something.

He focused on Tony instead, removing the wires one by one, until he could reach forward and pull the cloth out of Tony’s mouth. Tony coughed and spluttered, massaging his jaw, which was raw and swollen.

Tony turned around, slowly, still regaining his full movement. “You’re hurt,” he whispered, his voice hoarse. “Let me see.”

_Right._ Rhodey pulled up the back of shirt, and he heard a sharp exhale from Tony. “How bad is it?” Rhodey asked.

“It’s…that needs stitches.”

“Ok. Let’s go get some stitches.” _And get you the hell out of here._

Tony looked over at Tiberius, and Rhodey followed his gaze with a sigh. “I guess I’ll have to drag him out of here. Tony?”

Tony was looking at Tiberius with a cold look in his eyes - one Rhodey hadn’t seen there before. It sent a shiver down his spine. “You don’t have to take him anywhere.”

Rhodey considered it for all of half a second. There was a small part of him - a dark, furious part of him - that wanted to do it. That thought Stone deserved it. That considered that the world would be better off if they just left him there to be exterminated like the vermin he was.

“We can’t,” he said instead. “Even if he deserves it. We can’t.”

“He would have done it to you.”

“I know,” Rhodey said in a low voice. “But we’re better than him. You’re better than him.”

Tony stayed quiet for another three terrifying seconds, and then nodded in agreement. “I’ll help.”

“I can do it.”

“You’re hurt.”

“You shouldn’t have to touch him.”

But Tony was already on his feet, moving over to take Tiberius's left arm. Before he picked it up, he launched a savage kick into Tiberius’s side. The blonde boy didn’t stir. “Just checking.”

Rhodey moved up to take Tiberius’s right arm, and kicked his other side. “Just checking.” He gave Tony a ghost of a smile, then the two picked up Stone under his armpits, and hauled him from the library.

***

“Is now a good time to remind you that I haven’t done this before?”

They were back in their bedroom. Rhodey’s blood-stained shirt was in the trash, and he was leaning over his bed while Tony hesitated, a first aid kit on the bedside table. “I really don’t see why we can’t go to the hospital.”

“Injuries on the same night Tiberius Stone is assaulted and dumped in the middle of campus?”

“Yeah...ok, I can see how that could look bad.” Tony still wavered. “I’m going to have to clean it first.”

“I know. Just do it.”

“Are you sure?”

“Yeah. Waiting is the worst part anyway.”

Tony pressed the cloth soaked in the antiseptic to the cut and Rhodey cried out, gripping the bedframe until his knuckles turned white. “Rhodey?” Tony’s voice sounded panicked, so Rhodey took a deep breath, steadying himself.

“Ok, I take that back. Waiting is _not_ the worst part.”

“Hospitals have painkillers.”

“Don’t remind me. It’s going to hurt no matter what but…maybe just do it fast.”

Tony complied, making sure the wound was completely clean before he took up the needle and thread. “This…this is new,” the teenager commented.

“For me too.”

“I don’t know if I can.”

“Think of it like a machine. Human bodies are kind of like machines, right? So pretend I’m just some invention you’re fixing in the workshop and _ow!_ ”

“You said to do it fast.”

“I stand by that,” Rhodey gasped, feeling the needle dip in and out of his skin, sewing the flesh back together. “You ok?”

“You don’t want to know the answer to that.”

“Fair enough.”

_In. Out. In Out._

“Maybe…” Rhodey was sweating already, and he was trying not to vomit. “We can talk while you do it? Or you can? Just…distract me. Please.”

“Sure.” Tony sounded anything but, but he cleared his throat. “Well, thank you, I guess. I…I don’t think I said that yet.”

“You don’t need to.”

“I do. Things would have been a lot worse. If you hadn’t come. So thank you, Rhodey. Really.”

_In. Out. In. Out._

_“_ And I’m sorry. For all the stuff I said. About you trying to use me. It’s just…that’s kind of what I have to assume about people. Because nine times out of a ten….no, nine-point-nine times out of ten, I’m right. But I know you’re not one of them. I’m not sure why, but I’m glad you’re not.”

“Good. That you know that, at least.”

“What you did…even after all the things I said…”

“Tony, I wasn’t going to just leave you to Stone. Of course I was going to come find you.”

“Not just that. When you…you offered to take my place.”

_In. Out. In. Out._

“I just…I’ve never…fuck, this is really hard. Do people do this often?”

“Stitching up their roommates?”

“Talk about their _feelings_ ,” Tony grumbled.

Rhodey grinned, which came out more like a grimace. He could feel Tony pull the last stitch and start to apply bandages.

“I’ve never had anyone do anything like that for me before,” Tony finished quietly. “And…and I hated it, ok? Don’t…don’t do that again. Please. I’m not worth…I’d never want you to do something like that.”

“You gave yourself up for me,” Rhodey reminded him softly. “You could have fought against Stone. You didn’t. To save my life.”

“That’s different.”

“How is that different?”

“Because it was my mess!” Tony was shouting now, the bandages forgotten. “My mess that I dragged you into. My fault that-”

Rhodey was turning around then, looking the teenager dead in the eye. “It wasn’t your fault. It was Stone’s fault. _Everything_ that happened was Stone’s fault.”

Tony couldn’t hold Rhodey’s gaze, fixing it on his shoes instead. “Tony,” Rhodey insisted. “I need to hear you say it. I need to know that you know that this was all that sick bastard’s fault - _none_ of it was yours.”

“If you had died-“

“His fault.”

“If I hadn’t fought with you, I wouldn’t have been alone and he wouldn’t of-”

“ _His_ fault. Ok, Tones?”

Tony nodded still not meeting his eyes.

"I need to hear it. Please."

"It...it was his fault."

Rhodey saw tears in Tony’s eyes and automatically went to offer assurance, then stopped himself, his hands hovering awkwardly in the air. “Sorry. Only if you say it’s ok.”

There was a moment when Rhodey was sure that Tony was going to brush him off, and Rhodey was already lowering his arms when Tony stepped into them and put his head on Rhodey’s chest.

“Hey,” Rhodey soothed him, bringing him in close as Tony broke down, sobbing into his shoulder. “You’re safe now. It’s over.”

_Well_ , he amended. _Almost over._


	8. Chapter 8

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And we're back! Thank you so much to everyone who left comments and kudos and took the time to read this story, you guys are all amazing x
> 
> Reminder that this story does deal with sexual assault and its aftermath.

Four days later, Rhodey knocked on Suzi Endo’s door.

It opened to reveal a non-pajamaed Suzi, with brushed hair and glasses. She raised an eyebrow at Rhodey. “To clarify, ‘just a bit’ does not mean four fucking days, Rhodes.” Her eyes narrowed as they took in the bruising along Rhodey’s jawline. It was mostly faded, and already looked a hell of a lot better than Tony’s did, but it still drew odd looks around the campus.

Rhodey gestured to the bruises. “Boxing.”

“Uh-huh,” Suzi replied, not believing him. “And I don’t suppose I’m supposed to draw conclusions between that and the fact that I haven’t seen you since the night Tiberius Stone got mugged?”

“What conclusions? I see no conclusions.”

Tiberius had apparently woken up with a hell of a headache and a missing wallet and watch in the centre of campus. The school had pushed him to report it to the police, but Tiberius had refused before vanishing on a week-long retreat to ‘recover from the trauma’. Rhodey had snorted when he heard that, but anything that got Stone off-campus while Tony recovered was music to his ears.

And when Rhodey was finished, Tiberius Stone wouldn’t be coming back to campus either.

“Can I come in?”

Suzi considered him. “Sure. It’s gross in here though. I’m a slob. My roommate always complains about it.”

“That sounds familiar,” Rhodey said under his breath as he entered Suzi’s room. It was a mess, and Rhodey tried to hide his blush when he saw the dirty bra and underwear discarded in one corner.

Suzi followed his gaze and grinned. “Oh I’m sorry, is a shock to you that women wear underwear?”

“Where are the papers?” Rhodey asked to avoid the question.

Suzi tugged them out from under a half-finished plate of pasta. “There.”

“You couldn’t have put them… _anywhere_ else?”

“Couldn’t you have put them anywhere else that wasn’t dumping them on me?”

“Ok, ok. Fair point.” Rhodey took the papers like they were made of glass, hugging them to his chest.  


“You’re not really going to do it, are you?” Suzi asked.

“I don’t really have a choice.”

“You _do_ have a choice. You’re choosing to be an idiot.”

“A courageous idiot who can take you to coffee?”

Suzi gave him a playful punch on the arm. “Don’t get kicked out of school, and the coffee’s on me. I can’t be dating dropouts.”

“Who said anything about dating? I only said coffee.”

Suzi grinned at him. “Get out of my room, Rhodes.”

“It’s Rhodey.”

“Don’t get kicked out. _Then_ it’s Rhodey.”

Rhodey was still smiling as Suzi’s door slammed behind him, every bit of proof he needed to get Tiberius expelled clutched in his arms.

***

“I can’t accept these.”

Headmaster Brecht laid the stolen papers to one side, not meeting Rhodey’s incredulous eyes. “Sir,” Rhodey protested. “Stone has been cheating since he started here. He’s ripping off other students -”

“This is not sufficient evidence.”

“ _Sir_ -”

“I applaud your intentions, Rhodes,” Brecht said in a low voice. “It was brave of you to come here. But now I suggest you forget all about this and concentrate on your studies. Ok?”

His tone was kind, but it only made Rhodey angrier. “You’re a coward,” he said bluntly.

“I beg your pardon?”

“A coward,” Rhodey repeated. “You’re scared to go after Stone, even though he’s cheating, even though he’s stealing from other students and -” He broke off. The truth about what had happened between Tiberius and Tony was Tony’s truth to tell, not his. “What would it take?” he said instead. “What would be enough?”

“The Stone family are generous supporters of this school -”

“So as long as their money is in your coffers you’re going to do nothing.”

“Rhodes.” Brecht’s tone was icy now. “I know you’re smarter than this. Have you told anyone else what you’ve found?”

“No.”

If Brecht suspected the lie, he didn’t follow up on it. “That’s good. No need to involve your fellow students, is there? Now, I suggest you put this to rest and _leave it be_.”

Rhodey let out a long exhale. “I think we both know I can’t do that, sir.”

“Then you’ll be pissing off the most influential donor the school has.”

“Oh, I wouldn’t say the _most_ influential.”

Both Rhodey and Brecht’s heads whipped over to the office door. Tony was leaning in the doorway, hands in pockets. He was still a strange sight, with brushing and scabs over the lower half of his face, the skin around his wrists black and purple, but he adjusted the sleeves of his blazer and strode into the room like he owned it. “Did you forget, headmaster, that Tiberius Stone is not the only one whose parents have made generous donations to your school?”

Tony approached the desk but didn’t sit, choosing instead to examine the shelf of awards and certificates mounted on the far wall. He picked up a glass trophy, tossing it between his hands.

“Stark,” Brecht said shortly. “Welcome to my office. Please, have a seat.”

Tony ignored him, now tapping the award against the palm of his hand instead. Rhodey tried to catch his eye, to ask his friend to clue him in on what he was doing, but Tony’s eyes were gazing absently out the window instead. “You know that Brighter Futures Program Stone was so proud to get into? His application project - mine and Rhodes.”

Rhode saw Brecht stiffen in his seat. “You’ll say I can’t prove it,” Tony continued. “But I wonder if you pushed Stone to explain the math - _really_ explain it, not just recite what Rhodes dictated to him the night before the interview, if he would be able to keep up.”

“Why would Rhodes do that?”

“He was coerced,” Tony said, in a tone that warned not to push further. “As was Harvey Jones, Penelope Lopez, Gi Hyun-Jae, and a number of other students.” He reached into his blazer and pulled out a sheaf of papers, tossing them onto the desk. “Signed statements from each of them. Is that enough evidence for you, headmaster?” 

The color had drained from Brecht’s face. “Why…” He swallowed, then started again. “Why come forward now? Not then?”

“Fear,” Rhodey interjected. “We all know who Stone’s parents are. The influence they have.”

“A lot,” Tony added. “But not _quite_ as much as us Starks. It’s close, but we do beat them out in that arena. Seems once Stone’s victims were assured that Stark Industries would back them up once they came forward, they were more than happy to make Stone’s little antics public.”

Brecht slowly took the statements into his hands. “I’ll see what I can do.”

“Of course, headmaster. I’ve got to say, you run a fine school - particularly the physics program. I’m sure a generous donation could be made to that department.”

“I am glad to hear you are enjoying your time here, Stark.”

Tony gave him a wolfish grin before tossing him the award. Brecht almost fumbled it, but Tony was already striding out of the room.

“You’re dismissed, Rhodes,” Brecht said, checking the award for damage.

“Yes, sir.”

“Rhodes?” Rhodey paused. “This doesn’t leave this room.”

“What doesn’t leave this room, sir?”

Brecht gave him a nod, and then Rhodey was hurrying out of the office before Brecht could see the giant grin that spread across his face.

Tony was waiting for him outside and, before he could protest, Rhodey wrapped him a hug.

“Rhodey! Get off me!”

Still grinning, Rhodey let the teenager squirm out of his arms. “That was…”

“A dick move?”

“You were a total asshole, yeah. But he had it coming. So does Stone. How-”

Tony shushed him as he glanced around the hallway. “Not here. Where’s safe?”

Twenty minutes later, Tony and Rhodey were in the boxing gym, sparring with each other in the ring. “How did you get the other students on board?”

“Like I said in the office. I told them if Stone or his family tried to mess with them, Stark Industries would have their back. Could hire them if Stone ruined their chances everywhere else.”

Rhodey ducked a swing from Tony. Damn, the kid was getting fast. “All that talk of not being able to get people any sway at SI and then you pull that?”

“Still holding out for a job, Rhodes?”

“It was my plan all along, of course.”

It was a sign of how far Tony’s trust in Rhodey had come that he grinned at the joke. “I’m not actually sure I could get them jobs there,” Tony admitted. “But I figured if enough people came forward to take down Stone, and Stone got expelled, that would ruin his and his name’s credit enough to protect them. You know, probably.” He paused suddenly, biting his lip. “Was that selfish?”

Rhodey hesitated, considering. “Stone deserved to go down,” he said finally.

“I know.”

“What if he did what he tried to do to you to someone else on campus?”

“I guess.”

“Tones, look.” Rhodey dropped all pretence of sparring. “I don’t think there’s a right answer to what you’re trying to ask. But I do know that letting that asshole roam around MIT like nothing happened, endangering other students…that wasn’t an option. You took him down.”

“We took him down.”

Rhodey grinned. “Correct.”

“You two done with the ring?” Rhodey looked over to where two of the other regular boxers, Peter Kiln and Damien Smith, were waiting.

“No problem, guys. We’re wrapping up.”

Kiln nodded over at Tony. “What happened to your face, kid?”

“What happened to yours?” Tony retorted, but in good faith. The two men grinned as they clambered into the ring, slapping Rhodey and Tony on the back.

“Have a good one,” Rhodey called to them as he and Tony headed for the showers. Rhodey was halfway there when he cursed. “Left my towel in the ring. One sec.”

Rhodey jogged back into the gym, only to see that Kiln and Smith weren’t sparring at all. They were talking in low, urgent whispers that broke off when they saw Rhodey approaching them.

“Towel,” Rhodey explained. He gave them an awkward smile, and left. An uneasy feeling had settled on the back of his neck, but he shrugged it off. The incident with Stone had left him paranoid.

As he and Tony were walking back to campus, Rhodey decided to bring up what had been on his mind for the past week. “So…you’re sixteen now.”

“I guess.”

“We didn’t exactly get a chance to celebrate.”

Tony shrugged. “I don’t do birthdays.”

Rhodey mulled on that for a moment. He doubted Howard Stark was one for cake and balloons. “You don’t want to do anything?”

Tony shrugged again. “I hadn’t really thought about it.”

“We could go for a drink somewhere? There’s a bar downtown that doesn’t card anyone.They won’t let you drink but they'd let you in the door at least. Some of the guys from the gym could come, or from the dorms?”

“Those are your friends, not mine.”

“You’d like them if you gave them a chance.” When Tony didn’t respond, Rhodey added, “Fine. Just you and me. Or we could just watch a movie or something?”

Tony’s eyes were on his shoes. “Thanks for the offer. But I’m fine. I don’t do birthdays, ok?”  


Rhodey relented. “Ok. Your birthday, your choice.” Part of him wanted to try and convince Tony further, but his thoughts were still tied up with Kiln and Smith and their hushed conversation, the way they had looked at him when he had caught them.

_Paranoid, Rhodes. Paranoid._

***

A week later, the bruising around Rhodey’s face had finally healed and Tony’s was well on its way, and Tiberius Stone had been expelled from MIT.

It was all anyone had talked about for days. The scandal had shocked the whole university,and after the cheating allegations had been brought to light, more of Tiberius’s crimes did too. Tony wasn’t the only younger boy Stone had harassed on campus, and not the only student whose door had been peppered with threatening notes. It was as if the school was breathing a collective sigh of relief in the blonde boy’s absence.

Tony and Rhodey’s names weren’t mentioned, for which Rhodey was grateful. While Stone had to have known it was them who had been his downfall, he wasn’t on campus anymore to reap any kind of retribution.

The only thing still pulling on Rhodey’s mind was Kiln and Smith’s continued odd behaviour at the gym. They hadn’t done anything per se, but he still caught enough odd looks and whispered conversations to casually suggest to Tony that they move their sessions to the evenings instead.

It getting late one Tuesday evening, and Rhodey and Tony were finishing their sparring. Tony could hold his own against Rhodey now, wiry muscles outlining his arms and torso. Tony ducked around Rhodey’s uppercut, landing a jab in his side.

“You’re slowing down, old man,” Tony teased him. “That girl you’re mooning over's not going to be impressed that you can’t even beat a sixteen-year-old.”

“That girl’s name is Suzi,” Rhodey said, dodging Tony’s next punch and feinting left, only to go right. Tony saw it coming and blocked it easily. “You guys should meet. You’d like her.”

“Yeah, I don’t really like _people_ , remember?”

“You have so much in common. She’s smart, has no tact, is a total slob - hey!”

Tony had caught him totally off guard with a blow to the shoulder, although not hard enough to actually hurt. “Might as well throw in the towel now, Rhodes. I’m running circles around you.”

Rhodey’s retort was interrupted when he heard someone else enter the ring.

“Give us five minutes,” he said as he turned around, only to pause as he saw two familiar faces approaching them. “Kiln, Smith. You need the ring?”

The two men glanced at each other. Kiln was shuffling his feet slightly, while Smith’s eyes kept glancing at the door which, Rhodey noted as he followed his gaze, had been locked. Rhodey’s eyes darted around the gym. Empty, except for them four. _Just paranoid, huh?_

Rhodey instinctively stepped in front of Tony, pushing the smaller boy behind him. “What’s going on?”

“We’re sorry, Rhodes,” Kiln said, taking a step closer. “It’s not personal.”

Rhodey felt Tony tense behind him. “I need the money, man,” Smith added. “Little one’s asthmatic, older one needs dental…it adds up.”

Rhodey felt resistance on his arm and then Tony was pushing him aside, stepping up beside him. “Whatever he’s paying you, I’ll double it,” the teenager said, his voice cold. “I’m assuming you know who I am, yeah?”

The two men glanced at each other, still nervous. “It’s not just the money,” Kiln said in a low voice. He looked imploringly at Rhodes. “He said he was going to pin all sorts of stuff on me, Rhodes. I got priors. No one’s going to believe I didn’t do it. I can’t leave the kids again.”

Rhodey’s heart was going a million miles a minute. He cursed himself for thinking that this was over, that Stone wasn’t going to try some kind of retaliation.

“Fine,” Rhodey said, fighting to keep his voice calm. “Whatever you need to do, do it. But do it to me - leave Tony out of it.”

“Rhodey -” Tony started to protest but Rhodey cut him off, aiming his words at Kiln and Smith.

“Do you what you need to get Stone off your backs. But leave him alone - he’s _sixteen_ , for god’s sake.”

“Such the loyal dog, aren’t you, Rhodes?”

Rhodey whipped around to the voice, feeling his temper boil over as a blonde-haired boy emerged from the changing rooms, sauntering over to the ring. “You don’t know when to quit, do you?” Rhodey was already halfway to the edge of the ring, intending to pound that handsome face inside out, but then Kiln was in his path, blocking his way. He heard a cry from behind him and spun around to see Smith holding Tony’s arms behind him, twisting one up behind his back.

“Smith, don’t!” But the distraction had been enough, and the moment Rhodey turned his attention away from Kiln, the older man grabbed him, wrapping his arms around him and pinning his arms to his side. “Kiln! Goddamnit, let go!”

“I’m sorry,” Kiln muttered. “I’ll try and make it quick, ok?”

Kiln spun Rhodey around so he was facing Tiberius as the blonde climbed into the ring, grimacing as he had to grip the less-than-clean ropes to do so. “What was that about your ‘guys’ at the boxing gym not giving a shit about what I can do?”

Rhodey grit his teeth, still fighting to get out of Kiln’s grip. “Fuck you, Stone. You lost. Get over it.”

Tiberius stared Rhodey down with eyes full of rage and resentment. “I haven’t lost yet.” He changed his attention to Tony, putting on his smarmiest smile. “You look good, Stark.”

“Don’t,” Rhodey snarled at him.

Tiberius ignored him, taking a couple of steps closer to Tony. He brushed the teenager’s hair, still damp with sweat, back from his face, before stroking the side of his cheek. Tony froze at the touch, and Rhodey redoubled his efforts to free himself.

“I know it was you,” Tiberius breathed. “You ruined my life, Stark. My father…” Tiberius swallowed, but didn’t seem able to continue.

There was a long pause. Then, Tony looked up at the older boy and whispered, “I get it.”

Something like pain flashed over Tiberius’s face, so quick Rhodey thought he must have imagined it. But it was gone as soon as it appeared, and the hardness and hate were back. “It was your fault, Stark. You need to pay.”

“Touch him again and I’ll kill you, Stone!” Rhodey gave up the struggle and started to appeal to Kiln instead. “Kiln. He’s sixteen. Your son’s not much younger than him. I know you’re not going to let this happen.”

He felt the bigger man shuffle uncomfortably, but Kiln’s grip on him didn’t slacken. Tiberius was still focussed on Tony, his hand gripping his bruised chin. “I’ve had time to think about this, Stark. How best to hurt you, to make things even for you going to the school board. I thought about doing a lot of things.” He brought his face forward to Tony’s so their lips were almost touching. “But we both know where your soft spot is, don’t we? You proved that on your birthday.”

Then Tiberius was releasing Tony and Rhodey felt half a second of relief before Stone was approaching him instead.

“Stone!” Now Tony was the one who was yelling, struggling to get out of his captor’s grip. “Wait! I turned in the papers. I got you expelled. Rhodey had nothing to do with it.”

“I’m sure that’s not true.” Tiberius was half a foot away from Rhodey now, a glint in his eye that warned Rhodey that the blonde boy was beyond reason now. “But it doesn’t matter. I’m not punishing Rhodes. I’m punishing you, Stark.”

He snapped his fingers and then Smith was pushing Tony forward. The teenager barely had a moment to get his feet before Tiberius had him into a headlock, pulling him close to him as he backed into a corner of the ring. Tony cursed and swore at him, only to have Tiberius press down on his throat until he was gasping for air.

“You’re going to watch,” Tiberius hissed in his ear. “And if you’re good, he’ll walk away from it. Or crawl away. But fight me, and it gets a whole lot worse. Ok?”

Rhodey’s blood was pounding in his ears as Smith approached him, fists raised. Rhodey looked past him to Tony, trying to make eye contact with his roommate.

“Tony? Tony - look at me.”

Tony met his gaze, fear and panic etched over his face.

“Tony. Not your fault, remember?”  


That was when the first blow hit and it hurt every bit as much as Rhodey expected. He bit back a cry of pain, resolving to take this in silence, to try and conceal as much hurt and pain as he could. He wasn’t going to give Stone the satisfaction. And he wasn’t going to make this any worse for Tony than it already was.

It wasn’t long before he lost count. He stopped fighting and sagged in Kiln’s arms, taking hit after hit, focussing only on not crying out. One goal. He could do it.

He wasn’t sure how many punches he took before that resolve gave out. A sharp blow to the ribs knocked the wind out of him and he felt the anguished cry leave his lips before he could stop it.

“STOP!”

_No, Tony. Stay out of it._

Rhodey braced himself for the next hit, but it didn’t come. And the next cry of pain wasn’t his own.

His head shot up, and he squinted through one fast-closing eye past Smith to…

_No fucking way._

Tiberius was on the ground, blood spurting from his nose, as Tony towered over him, fist raised and shaking before it was brought down for the second blow.

“Tell them to let him go,” Tony snarled as he hit Tiberius again, this time in the jaw. _“Now.”_

Tony raised his fist a third time, and Tiberius flinched, raising his hands. “Stark…don’t…”

Rhodey felt an overwhelming sense of pride that was quickly cut short as he felt Kiln’s arm snake around his neck, cutting off his air supply. He saw Tony’s eyes dart over to him, then go wide. 

Tiberius pushed himself back, wiping the stream of blood from his nose. “I told you not to fight back,” he growled. Any hope Rhodey had felt sank as he saw Smith restrain Tony again, even as the teenager fought to get free, landing an elbow in Smith’s ribs that did nothing to deter the boxer.

Kiln’s arm crushed down on his windpipe, even as he heard the other man’s voice in his ear whisper, “I’m sorry. I got kids to look out for.”

“He’s a kid too,” Rhodey got out. “And if you let Stone walk, he’s going to do what he did to Tony to more just like him.”

Through the fog that was starting to cloud his vision, Rhodey thought he saw the boxer holding Tony waver. “What do you mean?” Smith demanded.

Rhodey tried to force out the next words, but Kiln’s arm was too tight. So Tony stepped in instead. “Attempted rape.”

Rhodey froze. It was the first time either of them had said the r-word out loud. He felt Kiln still behind him. It was as someone had pressed pause on the entire room. All eyes were on Tony, everyone holding their breath.

“Was I the first, Stone?” Tony’s voice was low, but the room was so quiet it was as if he had yelled it. “Or were there others?”

“What’s he talking about?” Kiln demanded, his grip on Rhodey slackening.

“He attacked him,” Rhodey gasped. “Twice. It would have gone further but…”

“Rhodey was there to stop it,” Tony finished. “I’m guessing not everyone was so lucky, right Stone?”

Everything that happened next occurred in a blur. The arms around Rhodey disappeared as Smith let Tony go, pushing the teenager behind him instead. Kiln clasped Rhodey’s shoulder as he gently nudged him towards the edge of the ring. “Both of you - go,” Kiln said, his eyes fixed on Tiberius.

“Wait!” Tiberius’s eyes were darting from Smith to Kiln. “I hired you! You work for me!”

“I don’t work for no pervert,” Smith snarled. They were closing in on him. “Especially those that go after the young ones.”

“Do you know who I am? What I can do to you?”

Kiln and Smith locked eyes, and an agreement seemed to pass between them. “Go,” Kiln said to Rhodey again. “Take the kid and _go_.”

Rhodey didn’t hesitate. He made his way around the ring and grabbed Tony, guiding him over the ropes. Tony’s face was hard and set as Rhodey pulled him towards the gym’s exit, unlocking the doors and tugging them into the cool night air.

The doors hadn’t quite closed before the screaming started.

***

“So he’s _gone_ gone?” 

Suzi Endo surveyed Rhodey over her coffee, one eyebrow cocked. “He’s gone,” Rhodey assured her. It felt good to say. “Seems those muggers caught up to him again. He ran straight home to Daddy.”

“Good. He was a terrible neighbour. And you had nothing to do with it?”

“Nothing at all,” Rhodey said with a small smile. “It’s on the official record, so it must be true.”

“Well, Rhodey - I’m glad he’s gone.”

“Me too, Suzi. Me too.”

Rhodey came back late that night to find Tony scribbling something in bed, barely glancing up as Rhodey entered the room. “I thought all your assignments were done?” Rhodey said as he dumped his bags in a corner.

“They are,” Tony muttered, not taking his eyes off the paper. “I was just thinking…our water filter. The power source.”

“Yeah?”

“I think it might have more uses. Or a way to make it more efficient. Some kind of fusion power reactor.”

“Ok.” Rhodey tugged the papers out of Tony’s hand, ignoring the teenager’s cry of protest as he replacement the sketchpad with a small box. “Open.”

“Rude.” Tony opened the box, blinking down at the single slice of birthday cake. “I told you I didn’t want to celebrate my birthday.”

“Fine. We won’t.” Rhodey grinned as he pulled out a bottle of scotch from under his bed. “How about celebrating you _socking Tiberius Stone in the face?”_

Tony allowed himself a small smile. “That felt pretty good.”

Rhodey poured out two glasses of scotch, ignoring Tony’s eye roll when he made his smaller and added water. “Wait until you’re twenty-one, then I won’t stop you.”

“Babysitter,” Tony grumbled, but when Rhodey raised his glass, Tony clanked his against it.

“To our first year at MIT!” Rhodey toasted, and they drank. “It’s been…”

“A year.”

“A year,” Rhodey agreed. “I have to admit, could have gone better.”

“Could have gone worse,” Tony said in a quiet voice.

Rhodey switched from sitting on his bed to Tony’s so the two were side-by-side. “Yeah, you could have gotten a roommate just as messy as you. You’d both have died of tetanus within amonth.”

Tony’s lips twitched. “I’m not _that_ bad.”

“You’ve improved.”

“Thank you, Rhodey.” The words were so quiet that Rhodey barely caught them. “For…you know.”

“I do,” Rhodey replied. “Thank you back.”

“For _what?_ ”

“For being the best roommate I could have hoped for.”

Tony rolled his eyes. “Ok. Dial it back a bit.”

“No. I love you, idiot. You’re my best friend.” Tony turned beet red, taking a sudden interest in his drink.

“Hey,” Rhodey nudged him. “I bought you cake and booze. You have to say it back.”

Tony was quiet for a long moment, then he said, “Stone. He went after those boxers' families. Do you think..?”

“I heard a rumour that Stone’s dad came to drag his ass home himself, and tore him a new one. Said he was going to keep his head so low he’d be tasting dirt for the next decade. I don’t think Stone is any position to pull strings like that - on them or the students he cheated off. Even if he did - Kiln and Smith scared the living daylights out of him.”

“It wasn’t anything…permanent, was it?”

“Nothing that won’t heal. Lots of bruising, some cracked ribs. He got off a lot lighter than I would have, if you haven’t stopped them.”

“You are,” Tony blurted out suddenly. His glass was already half empty. “My best friend.”

“I know.”

“And…it put you in harm’s way.”

Rhodey shrugged. “That’s what friends are for, Tones.”

“Targets for your enemies?”

“There to have your back when the enemies come,” Rhodey corrected him. “I got your back. You got mine. Ok?”

“Ok, Platypus.”

Rhodey choked on his scotch. “What did you just call me?”

“Platypus. You know, because you look like one.”

_“Excuse me?_ I do not look like a platypus!”

“Yeah you know, because…” Tony screwed up his face and hands in what Rhodey could only assume was supposed to be a platypus impersonation. Rhodey batted his hands down. “Stop that! Ok, no more alcohol for you.”

He went to tug the glass out of Tony’s hands, only for Tony to skilfully dodge him and down the rest in one swallow. “You trained me too well, Rhodes. Got to face the consequences now.”

“You’re an asshole, Tones, you know that?”

“You love me anyway.”

Rhodey rolled his eyes as he pulled Tony in for a hug. “Yeah. I do.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And finished! For now...
> 
> The story continues in "The One Where Clint is Tony's Weakness"

**Author's Note:**

> Lordy, are we somehow a third of the way through the challenge? Also, I swear all of these were supposed to be 2000 word one-shots.
> 
> So hey, I have this film and screenwriting podcast? It's called "Kill the Cat" and once a month my co-host and I and break down one of our favourite movies or tv shows and look at why they work, including Harry Potter, The Princess Bride, Brooklyn Nine-Nine and, of course, the MCU.
> 
> You can check it out on [YouTube](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Ypaen3yM5Q&t=1s&ab_channel=KilltheCatPodcast), [Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/show/5hCprc9UCBZP4srFrBXKT1?si=ZOqdhMlVQvqV2fG5PxuvOA), or anywhere you listen to podcasts. 
> 
> And hey. You're doing great.


End file.
